When mountains and rivers seem to block every path, another village quietly appears beyond the willows and blossoms. From the deepest impasse, renewal inevitably emerges; from apparent endings, new beginnings are born. Nature is boundless in its unfolding, and so too is the creative journey of art, where every horizon gives way to another possibility.

“Mountains upon mountains and rivers upon rivers—I feared there was no way forward;

Beyond the shaded willows and blooming flowers, another village appeared.”

—Lu You, Song Dynasty poet

From Inspirations of the Land: The Oil Paintings of Liu Jiutong