Space and Motion
FOREWORD
The human brain was once dubbed the three-pound universe and, certainly, our experience of the
world is highly subjective. In neuroscience, we know that our brain contains roughly 100 billion
nerve cells which receive and transmit chemical-electrical messages to and from the brain, and
these direct all of the body’s activities. However, how can a brain, the size of our palm,
contemplate the meaning of life? If we believe our brain controls us, then, there is limitation, if
we are the universe, then, the creativity is flung wide open.
Helen Pun’s ‘Space and Motion’ explores into two worlds, of biology and consciousness.
It was like a science investigation when Helen examined how our bodily movements interplay in our
physical world and our biological world. ‘Pelvis Duo’ (2014) is a representation of two dancers’
twisting their pelvises in a flamenco dance. The gleaming coldness of stainless steel depicts the
rigid nature of a hip bone. In a flamenco dance, when the cantaor strums the passionate cante
jondo, the bailaora manifests the duende of the dance by stamping her feet with intensity. The
brain responds to the rhythm, its synaptic connections mobilize the sacrum anatomy to perform
the fervent movement, as illustrated in ‘Whirling’ (2015) and ‘Spinning’ (2015). The dancer in
her upright body with her gentle arm movements, and the flow of her frilly traje de flamenco, are
captured in the curvilinear sculptures; ‘Pride’ (2015) and ‘Twirl’ (2015).
Who is the
choreographer of the impassioned flamenco, the physical brain, or the creative mind of the
dancer?
Our mind also feeds back our emotions toward the daily experience in our customized world.
These bio feedbacks affect the functionality within our human body. In researching for the
digital photographic series of ‘Rebound’, ‘Sense’ and ‘Drifting’, Helen was intrigued by the
primitive spiky reaction of a pufferfish when facing its predator. In ‘Sense II”, while
superimposing the brain nerves on the image of ‘Pride II”, she related to the fragility of life. The
pelvic bone may seem rock hard, but when the brain cells degenerate, it can be as useless as a
fossil. The bone becomes immobile, the body, paralyzed.
When Helen was significantly impacted by the illness of her mother, she investigated morphing
and mortality; the works of ‘Blood’ (2015) and ‘Contagion’ (2015) were conceptualized. Our rigid
bones manufacture blood cells. Helen created ‘Blood’, a red-colored upright object of two
distorted and deformed bodies emerging from the base symbolizing the fluidity and fragility of
our body structure. Triggered by the study of the brain nerves, she continued to create
‘Contagion’. The healthy state of mind, in contrast to a dysfunctional state, is represented by
switching the light on and off the brain sculpture. She meticulously chose semi-transparent
epoxy resin to emulate the luminosity of the fluid characteristic of the forms.
Unlike what Aristotle once taught us, the brain exists merely to cool the blood and is not involved
in the process of thinking; mind, brain, and body are seamlessly connected. The exhibition of
‘Space and Motion’ engages us to closely examine the brain being the physical representation of
the mind. Literally speaking, we are living in our perceptual experience, our own consciousness
world. Our thoughts determine our reality, there are limitless potential, and we are the creator
of our own destiny.
Ka Kee Pyne
Director
Ka Kee Gallery of Objects