VALUE JUDGMENT

In my eyes, compared to the precious gems and precious metals, I am more attracted to those insignificant things which are often easy overlooked. I can always find out their unique beauty. this set of works is the material value of thinking. A stone besides the road, a blown leaves, and those seemingly ordinary material has the same or greater value than gems in my eyes.

This work’s centerpiece is rice, which is most common part of meals here and is easily wasted. After steaming, pounding and repeated rubbing in hands, adding green tea powder and other natural pigment to change its color, as well as mixing sticky  composite material in it, I create a new material which is similar to a gemstone. After a fine polish, it can be cut to a piece of regular gem ring face. They can also be shaped into small pieces of pure color after a few hours of rubbing. Ultimately, this so-called rice gem, which is made from one of the most common things in the world, will be inlaid in the traditional jewelry, giving it a new sense and identity. The viewers who are not aware of its original material will treasure it as precious gem; this interesting sense of conflict is also the irony of the value judging criteria. I hope that the work can arouse people to think about the conflicts between virtue and reality, as well as remind them to treasure the insignificant things in life.