Sixteen-Sixty

After completion of his major contemporary installation projects such as "Site 2801," "Life's Crossroad," "Essence of Tai Chi," and "Ethereal Ink," Artist Gong Yuebin shifted his artistic focus from visual arts to literature art. He reflected on his first half of life across the globe and shared his life stories in this book.

He used two age milestones of sixteen and sixty to depict his life from a small village with poverty and crudity to the most diverse and bustled state of California. His maturity and development were associated with three water sources: The Yellow River as his birth and childhood place, the Pearl River as his art career cradle, and the Pacific Ocean as his art pinnacle.

The reflection on his life experience not only unveils his struggle, perseverance, and resilience but also his contemplation of them. His nephew wrote in the preface for the book, "Instead of cherishing or replanting the sixteen peach trees of Gong's memorable year, I believe in the idea of retrieving his curious spirit to venture into the bamboo forest of his sixties." Gong looked at his sixteen as the time when he started to understand the crudity of the world but was able to retain his heartful freedom from fighting directly with the outworld. The milestone of sixty was when he could contemplate his life and see the world with a new pair of eyes.