Inspiration
Our pick of the best art, books and Instagrammers
Symbolic logic
Vietnam-born Chinese New Zealander Wei Lun Ha works with brush and ink, the most indelible and unforgiving of media. His limited palette and deft strokes echo traditional Chinese landscape paintings and porcelain decorations. His works are dense with symbolism: birds are portents of good or ill fortune; the moon, often associated with the Yin in Chinese art, also denotes gravity; dripping gold seams suggest kintsugi, the Japanese practice of ceramic repair. Together with intense patterning, this detailed imagery populates more corporeal structures like bisected hearts and brains. His art does not present a mirror but a passage to another place. Nor does it offer comfort or escape but rather beauty and sorrow co-mingle in this representation of a complex personal reality. Wei has won multiple awards for his art. Kate Mullins