Beautiful rhythm in the lotus pond 2019

Dayou Lu created this lotus pond scene with ink and colour on paper. Look at those greens and oranges bleeding into each other, creating a visual push-and-pull across the surface. The lotus flowers themselves have a tender, almost vulnerable quality with just a hint of pink. There's a beautiful tension between control and chance, especially in how the ink spreads and pools. See how the artist uses thin, sharp lines to define the stems and stamens? Then, the petals are soft and undefined, like delicate whispers. This push and pull reminds me of Joan Mitchell’s gestural landscapes. Like Mitchell, Lu finds a way to balance chaos and order, inviting us to lose ourselves in the process. Art's not about answers; it's about the questions we ask along the way.