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2021 Precious Stone and this age — The foundation of the wall of the city

Motivation

『The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;』Rev.二十一19 『The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.』Rev.二十一20

The overcomers are like precious stones in God’s eyes, as revealed in the book of Revelation.

Life in the end time is filled with uncertainties. It seems that no matter how hard you strive to live, you are living only to die. This unsettling feeling does not come from the signs of the tribulations heralding God’s return, but from the people and the values of this age, and all the drastic changes underfoot for this generation.

Life in the end time is filled with uncertainties. It seems that no matter how hard you strive to live, you are living only to die. This unsettling feeling does not come from the signs of the tribulations heralding God’s return, but from the people and the values of this age, and all the drastic changes underfoot for this generation.

Creative Process When I began work on my Precious Stone Series, I had merely a superficial understanding of gemstones, but I admired their shiny sleekness and durability.It was only when I started to study the stones more closely that it occurred to me that I did not even know their names or colors.

As I closely studied the colors and compositions of different gemstones, to my surprise, I found that some of them look like picturesque gardens in miniature.

I realized that gemstones, as one of God’s creations, are far beyond my comprehension. The maturation process of humankind has much in common with the formation of gemstones. This realization made me more hopeful about the end time.

Sapphires radiate a myriad of hues depending on environmental changes. This characteristic is peculiar to the sapphire stone.Beryl contains a number of elements, and their insides resemble tiny gardens. Beryl is vulnerable when cut.Ruby is easy to fake. Real rubies contain natural inclusions; synthetic ones are much clearer. But only natural rubies emit red and blue light.

創作動機

21:19-20 城牆的根基是用各樣寶石裝飾的。第一根基是碧玉，第二是藍寶石，第三是瑪瑙，第四是綠寶石，第五是紅瑪瑙，第六是紅寶石，第七是黃璧璽，第八是水蒼玉，第九是黃玉，第十是翡翠，第十一是紫瑪瑙，第十二是紫晶。

得勝的，是聖經中的一個名詞出自於啟示錄，也就是神眼中的寶石。明白處在於末後世代的我，內心充滿未知數，似乎努力的生活著卻在努力的預備死亡，這感受不是來自於神要回來了大災難的前頭預兆，是來自對這世代的人、對這世代的思想、對這世代的環境變遷。

寶石是明白神經綸的聖徒所嚮往的生命成熟，也是神成熟生命彰顯出來的樣子，像寶石一樣的產物稀少卻動人，倪柝聲弟兄的「讓我愛」詩歌能唱出這樣的味道也活出這樣的生活。

創作過程：

創作初期寶石系列，帶著許多對寶石的想法，以為寶石是光亮透明、以為寶石是非常平滑、以為寶石是不易碎等⋯等到開始研究發現我連珠寶的名稱和顏色都不明白。原來寶石是這樣的色彩、原來寶石裡面充滿內含物、原來寶石裡面有一些和花園一樣⋯

我才發現原來我以為的寶石生成與神的創造有如此大的落差，生命的成熟與寶石的生成有許多相似的地方，走在生命道中，生命滿了希望。

藍寶石有色帶是因為環境改變所產生的顏色差異，一樣是藍色卻有深淺，這是藍寶石身上特殊的變化痕跡。綠寶石內含物非常多，裡面像花園一樣，綠寶石在切割時易碎。紅寶石容易仿冒，真紅寶有自然瑕疵裂痕，假紅寶質地均勻，真紅寶才能反射出雙色彩虹的光學特性。

2015 Sunflowers — Eschatology

Motivation

Bethel Lu was intrigued by all kinds of thoughts concerning the End of Days and, in response, she created this sunflower series. The sunflowers in her paintings is a reflection of human beings when faced with changes of the natural world, wars between countries, horrifying terrorism, suppression of thoughts, and financial and energy crises. The turmoil springing up in the world triggers a sense of crisis and an awareness of the End of Days among the human race.

Concept

The life of sunflowers is just like the life of human beings. It may seem to be fragile yet, when it blossoms, it is incredibly beautiful. We often feel impotent when looking at the world situation and its underlying threats. No political system is able to make the world a better place. With all the disastrous events happening in the world, we do feel that the End of Days is looming ahead.

In this series, there are groups of sunflowers responding, in the most subtle way, to the changes in the environment in; there are single flowers standing vulnerably yet tough enough to blossom in this hopeless generation; there are small clumps bearing different expressions, telling different emotions an individual has concerning the End of Days; there are also flowers in the vase representing the artist’s conclusion of the End of Days.

向日葵-末世論

創作動機：

藝術家Bethel有感於當代人類對世代終結的各種思想，因而創作一系列以向日葵為主角，表徵人類面對自然的變遷、國與國的戰爭、恐怖組織的威脅、思想的壓制、經濟危機、能源的不足…等的反應，這些世界局勢的動盪在當代人類的思想中衍生出對末世的危機感。

作品思想：

向日葵表徵人類生命呈現脆弱與綻放的美麗，人類面對世界局勢的變化與隱憂，當代大體生活於不同體制下的人類不能改變任何的現況，卻備受一切動盪的威脅，人類對世代的危機，思想上呈現出末世來臨的危機感。

作品中有群體向日葵面對環境變化的細微反應 ; 也有單獨表現人類面對不能改變世代的脆弱卻堅毅生命綻放的特質 ; 群組小系列向日葵，以向日葵的表情堆砌出人類以不同思想訴說對末世的感覺 ; 系列中瓶組系列，作者表達面對末世自我的結論。

2014 Taiwan Series

The Vein of the Island County & Tamsui in Taiwan

The peculiar and colorful rocks in the northeast corner present rare natural scenery. The rocks together with the constantly changing Pacific Ocean waves and sufficient sunlight in Taiwan’s subtropical climate create a magnificent view of the stone forest and wonderful rolling waves.

The rising landscape, ocean wind, rolling waves and burning sun have left traces of long-term erosion, and the bean curd rocks have clearly witnessed the coastal changes.

The splendid and vicissitude coastal scenery impresses me a lot, so I came here many times and finally created the “Vein of the Island Country” in 2014 to record my longing for the northeast corner of Taiwan.

The main subject of my work:

The main subject is the peculiar and colorful inclined mountain and Bean Curd Rock.

The clear water in the shallow sea serves as a foil to the ever-changing rocks;the veins on the Bean Curd Rock reveal the trace of history. The brushwork and colors all present a strong change of light, seemingly illustrating my love and passion for this island country.

The blue-sky background illustrates the open and magnificent scenery of the northeast corner while breeze bringing moisture up to the sky to meet the clouds and reflect the shadow of light suggests our hope and future for this island country. Seeing the history of the coast, I remember the last generation, this generation and the next who work hard for Taiwan and realize that the rocks are not eroded by the ocean waves, but rather, they experienced a dramatic change, just like Taiwan.

The bright colors add more passion instead of vicissitudes to the North Commissioner in the northeast corner, the flowing ocean waves bringing tides head for the future. After the erosion from the ocean waves, the rocks left are the strongest, smoothest and brightest surface which, just like the resilient people in Taiwan and the island country, are some of the things I miss the most.

旅居國外多年，每每想起臺灣總是忘不了東北角海岸澎湃壯闊的景象。

東北角奇特鮮明的岩石是世界上少有的自然景色，配合著太平洋海豐富多樣的波濤變化與臺灣副熱帶氣候充足的陽光，創造出北關奇石林立、驚濤拍岸的景象。

地形上升、海風、激浪、烈日在北關的斜背山留下長年侵蝕的痕跡，在其上的豆腐岩清楚訴說著海岸變化的脈絡。

東北角這壯麗又滄桑的海岸景觀使我無法忘懷，為此美景往返北關多次，終於在2014年創作『島國的脈絡』來紀念我心中對臺灣東北角海岸的思念。

作品主軸：

主軸以東北角北關- 奇特鮮明的斜背山與豆腐岩為主軸，前景海水平靜清澈襯托著奇妙變化的岩石，豆腐岩上的脈絡帶出歷史的痕跡，筆法與用色卻呈現光線強烈的變化，仿佛說明著身為台灣人的我，對於島國的熱情與喜愛。

背景的藍天說明著東北角開闊壯麗的景象，微風帶著水氣上升，銜接到空中的雲彩與光線透出雲端的呼應，表現著我對於島國的希望與未來。看見海岸邊的歷史，想起為著臺灣努力的上一代、這一代、與下一代們，我覺得岩石並不是被海水削減的對象，反而值得期待變化的對象，就如同台灣本島一樣。

鮮艷的色彩使東北角的北關沒有滄桑多了島國的熱情，流動的海水帶著海潮走向未來，岩石經過海水的衝擊留下最堅固、光滑明亮的表面，猶如島國人民堅韌的民族性，這些就是我所思念的臺灣與島國的人民。

2014 The Flow of Light

The bottle stands transparent and still, in dialogue with the flow of light, as time slips past the surrounding objects.

Transcending time and space too, the light, in the same manner, breaks through the frames of the objects, bringing freedom and splendor to this piece of artwork. Bethel Lu sees herself a “follower of light”, and her artwork demonstrates the transparency of light. In this painting, the light in the glass is exactly the same light that is perceived in the background, and on the desktop. The glass bottle, in its complete stillness, gives life to the presence of light. Liu employs midtone colors to create the harmonious feel of natural light against the glass bottle. People form the core of social life, but it is only in the power of natural elements that modern society gains balance – so too does the uncreated light balance the created bottle in her painting.

流動的光

安靜的透明瓶與流動的光形成一種對話，時間流動在不動的物件之下。

光超過了時間與空間的限制，光也穿越了物件的外框，作品在光的流動下有了自由與繽紛的呈現。

藝術家Bethel Lu 擅於追隨光，畫作呈現光本體的穿透性，杯中的光線也存在於背景也存在於桌面，靜態的玻璃瓶反而凸顯了光在空間中的活躍。

溫和的中色系列色彩，述說著藝術家對於自然光表現出充滿和諧的現象，玻璃瓶代表現代社會的產物。當代以人為主體的社會生活，需要自然的力量來平衡，使之呈現和諧。

2011 Sense of Life – American Moment

My focus is creating situations and environments using cityscapes, nature and figures within a landscape. The idea came from moving from Taiwan to the USA. I became aware of a new feeling about the environment around me.

The various subjects in my paintings came from my last 3 years living in the United States. This series of paintings that I have created are paintings of cities that I have lived in and the American people around me. I have used passionate colors which I have seen in my environment. I wanted the viewer to feel what I felt in everyday life in this engaging and exciting foreign country.

I chose oil painting to make my artwork because the bold brushstrokes and colors can create the fluid emotions of my feeling about the lifestyle in my everyday environment.