One day in 2022, Pascal was about to continue with his landscape paintings, but at a certain moment, a sense of inspiration came over him and there seemed to be a voice in his heart shouting: "I can't paint this anymore! I must do something else!"
At that time, Pascal was trying to make some sculptures with origami techniques, mostly based on carefully calculated and folded triangles or hexagons; but he didn't enjoy it very much, this kind of strict arrangement and combination instead aroused his desire of "fluidity". Thereafter, Pascal cut the canvas, pinned it to the frame, sculpted the shape, and painted it. He covered the first piece with a kind of 3D dazzling paint, and the effect was interesting! At the first glance the painter's wife frowned and shouted in disbelief: "What’s that? What’s that?" Then Pascal created three more paintings and told his wife, "This is of a completely different standard from what I used to paint!" The painter wanted more chameleon paints, so they drove to a paint shop three hours driving away to buy the paints, which are quite expensive. They also bought epoxy, the chemical used in industrial floors, to make the canvas as strong as stone.
The process of creating each painting is different. Making the largest paintings is sometimes like a battle, sometimes like a dance; the artist sometimes needs to use force to bring the canvas into place, especially when he wants to create a specific shape. Due to the huge size, the painter cannot expect to get the desired shape by just pushing the canvas at a certain point, but has to try and check back and forth. If epoxy has been applied, even only a thin layer, it is extremely difficult to change it. It took nearly half a year to finalize. For the three "Butterfly Dreams", Pascal tried non-rectangular canvases. He directly nailed the canvas to the frame and shaped it for several hours to see what he could create. Another example is the painting with three arcs. Pascal had a specific shape in mind from the beginning, so the shaping was just a process of finding the best angle.
For the artist, these creations belong to the visual arts. Pascal does not try to express any ideas or philosophies through these works; of course, they are meaningful, but the artist wants to create works that can "resonate in harmony" with the viewer, while this "viewer" is not a specific person or group. Just like a chef, only when he "forgets" his dinners can he become a first-class chef, focusing on skills and ingredients and never trying to please anyone. Therefore, when the artist creates, what he thinks about is: what color should such a shape have, which direction should it develop.... When creating large-scale paintings, Pascal is somewhat reminded of the abstract expressionism of the 1950s, but that was his thought at that moment. If the viewer doesn't think of it, it doesn't matter. Another example is the triple work of "The Way". Pascal thinks that these white shapes are like some kind of symbols or characters, but if the viewer doesn't feel the same, that’s fine. The artist does not assign any specific meaning or symbolism to them.
The painter's wife, Arwen Yang, has a Ph.D. in literature and specializes in Zhuangzi. From Pascal's paintings, she saw the universality of the same destination as Zhuangzi. Everyone who reads "Zhuangzi" can get a different life understanding, just as does everyone who sees the different colors and aspects of these paintings with varying light and angles. Zhuangzi resonates with readers just as these paintings resonate with viewers. They are not rigid in a certain meaning, just like these paintings try to lead the audience into an open, rich, yet private world of their own.
Tired of traditional paintings, Pascal opened up an unprecedented artistic path. These sculpted canvases, color-changing paints, and universal resonance are unique creations in the history of art. They provide a different perspective on artistic creation. We are fortunate enough to meet, as the "twilight meeting" in “Zhuangzi”.