Biophilia

MASTER PAINTERS OF THE WORLD

- Jon Ching

Inoculate, oil on wood, 18 x 14 (45 x 35 cm) When I was making Inoculate, two pandemics were happening simultaneously. One was the viral pandemic of COVID-19 that took over the world. The other was the pandemic of police brutality that was being challenged and protested against all over the world. At the same time, the presidential politics and the partisanship that comes with it in the US were at a fever pitch. All of this informed Inoculate, a piece about ideas spreading and the conflicts that come with it, internally and externally.

The endless wonders of the natural world inspire my artwork, for after one realizes there is magic in every cell of every living organism, one cannot look away. To me, not only are the lifeforms magic but so too are the interconnections linking everything together. It’s tempting to describe this intricate balance of millions of organisms as supernatural, but in fact, it is plainly the definition of natural.