Fan Dongwang Dragon in water

The Chinese dragons are just and benevolent, but also fearsome and powerful in battling against evil spirits to protect their believers and bring them wealth and good fortune. Dragons are aquatic creatures living in water with fluid and hybrid identities, using their wisdom to navigate the terrain of ongoing change. Here the water is the environment, the agent for change. Water dissolves and transforms the old into the new. The traditional Chinese icons have developed into a new kind of postmodern dragon: one that is disintegrated and reintegrated. It reflects China today, a mixture of the traditional and modern, Eastern and Western cultures. The dragon has not diminished but re-emerged onto an unprecedented level.

- Fan Dongwang

Note: exhibited in the Sulman Prize 2013 as Dong Wang Fan