No historian or scholar seems definitively certain about where and how alchemy got its start. There’s plenty of evidence that points to the possibility of China being the humble birthplace of the practice. China’s alchemy predates most others’ because they didn’t originally use the process for metallurgy, but for medicine. Although evidence of Chinese alchemy can be found as early as the I Ching, the first well-known alchemist was Ko Hung who produced a book (sometime around 300 AD) entitled Pao-p'u-tzu, which contained several recipes for mercury, and arsenic-based elixirs. Regardless of how alchemy started or evolved, it has always had two main goals: turn basic metals into gold and create some magical drink to prolong life. Obviously neither of these goals were ever met (that we know of). Sir Isaac Newton proved conclusively in the 19th century that the former task was impossible. A term was coined though to this changing of metals into gold: Xanthosis. You probably don’t know this word, but had things turned out a little differently in alchemy, and we were somehow able to change metals into gold, there’s a good chance you’d have known it well.
| ARTIST |  |
|
|
Liu Dao 六岛 |
| MEDIA | |
|
|
RGB LED display, acrylic painting, paper collage, teakwood frame |
| EDITION | |
|
|
Unique |
| DATE | |
|
|
Made in island6, Shanghai 2015 |
| SIZE | |
|
|
48(W)×67(H)×5(D) cm |
To see the artwork in motion, visit our website at
http://www.island6.org/Xanthosis.html
