16x20” gouache painting on arches paper. Included with a gold frame.
One of the paintings from the Twelve Nights On Heaven's Headrest, created for the 2023 Bassetti Architects Artist Residency and exhibited at the Kristen Ramirez gallery in Museum of Museums in 2023.
The troublemaking Monkey King born from stone, practiced in divine magic, and beholding a magical staff - The Dragon lord’s treasured weapon.
The night that Sun Wu Kong was meant to die, he fell asleep. In his dreams, he was taken by two soul collectors to the kingdom of death to face the two options of reincarnation, or torture of the 10 courts of hell.
Refusing to settle between these two choices, Sun Wu Kong used his magical staff to fight the ten death lords. The lords were met with such resistance that they had never encountered from a mortal before. This confused them deeply, so they went to consult the Book of Death and Life, a tome of every living soul’s death. While the lords searched through the pages to find him, Sun Wu Kong swooped in and struck out his name from the book before the lords could act, and continued with taking out the names of everyone in his monkey tribe from the tome. He fought angered spirits on his way out of the spirit realm, only to trip on his way out of the kingdom. Right before he would hit the ground, he awoke from his slumber. He escaped from the underworld, liberated his tribe and himself from the bonds of death, and was granted immortality.
Interested in a print? Find it here.
If the painting is still listed as available, it is also available for exhibitions. Please send an email to mon(@)chinesebornamerican(.)com to coordinate, or if interested in a local (Seattle) pick up.