O.T. | 茶水之道

(b. 1975, Seattle) works across sculpture, installation, and works on paper. His methodology is rooted in a single principle: he sets conditions and allows material to determine the outcome. He does not impose form. He works within the natural behavior of his materials - concrete, steel, water, glass, pigment.

This is the 茶水之道 - the Way of Tea and Water. In Chinese philosophy, the Tao describes the natural principle that governs how things work. It is not forcing. It is understanding material nature so thoroughly that you can work with it rather than against it.

The works travel from Daxin to Nanning. Like water, they flow through landscape, finding new meaning in new context. Two blown-glass orbs hang on the wall. A sun (warm yellow). A water world (deep blue). Three works on paper and canvas combine marbling technique with spray enamel. Two works capture water's movement—pigment floated on standing water, lifted onto paper. Once water finishes moving the color, the pigment is preserved. The third work uses spray paint to render a sun—a circular form that echoes water's cyclical patterns and natural cycles. What results is not pictures of water or sun. They are records of them. Evidence of material agency.