Simon Ma

#Be With You

SHANGHAI, CHINA

Simon Ma is a "crossover" artist who combines Chinese and Western elements to form his distinct style. Spanning across mediums, including painting, sculpture, sound, and video, Simon Ma's work draws strongly from foundations in Chinese ink painting while integrating global influences.

For his work Be With You, Simon Ma used water as an integral part of the artwork, with water looking tender but powerful to penetrate everything. The artwork is inspired by the Chinese idiom 'Dripping water penetrates the stone' to highlight that knowledge can break through the limitations of thinking when it accumulates.

UAP's team in China is proud to have helped deliver this work with Simon Ma as part of Shanghai Library East's public art program with the curatorial vision of 'Mediums: The Development of Writing.'

The main silver water droplet represents knowledge, and the small golden water droplet symbolises the book. Using the idea that water drops can penetrate the stone as a metaphor for knowledge, breaking barriers of thought and enlightenment can be achieved through reading and reminding us that we are never alone when we have a book.
-Simon Ma