:
626-839-1686 :
626-839-1616 cyei@caoyong.us .8:30am
to 5:00pm PST
"Freedom"
Event Across the Country Acknowledgment:
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of "Freedom" benefit
• Twin Tower Orphan Fund www.ttof.org
• The Bravest Fund www.TheBravestFund.com
and
• The North Jersey Media Group disaster Relief Fund www.GroundZeroSpirit.org
Image Size: 30" x
21" • Archival Print on Canvas
Limited
Edition of 2001 Signed and Numbered
plus 201 Artist Proof
Image Size: 43.5" x
30.5" • Archival Print on Canvas
Limited Edition of 2001 Signed and Numbered
plus 201 Artist ProofImage Size: 60" x
42" • Archival Print on Canvas
Limited Edition of 950 Signed and Numbered
plus 95 Artist Proof
FOR DETAIL
INFO,
PLEASE CALL US AT 626-839-1686
About
"Freedom"
This
painting is about the spirit of liberty, the dream of peace, the
universality of love, the power of determination and the hope of
mankind. Freedom serves as a monument to our Founding Fathers, fearless
pioneers, heroes past and present, who devoted their lives to the
high cause of peace and to the generations who have pursued their
dreams under the torch held high by the Statue of Liberty.
I dedicate
this painting to the United States of America for its dream of hope
when I was entangled in a nightmare of darkness and bitter cold.
I dedicate this painting to all people throughout the world who
love freedom, democracy and peace. These ideals are not limited
by the boundaries of race, nation, or faith but unite all of us
on earth and light the way to our future.
New
York City was the first place in which I lived upon immigrating
to America. Although I lived there for three years, I never realized
how much the city meant to me. Never, that is, until the morning
of September 11, 2001: from my home in far away California, as
I watched the Twin Towers collapse on my television screen, my
heart shattered into a million pieces along with them. It was
at that moment that I realized how deeply I was attached to this
remarkable city. Day after day, I mourned for New York. As 2001
drew to a close, the pain in my heart had not eased. I drove 3000
miles to visit the city, in the heart of which I had once lived,
and which I now knew lived in mine.
The
first thing that struck me at the ruins of World Trade Center
was the
flood
of people--every face contorted with inner sorrow. The line of mourners,
which starts at ground zero, winds through blocks and blocks, and
each pair of eyes tells a story of deep loss. Who could have believed
that the tallest building in the United States--once the symbol
of freedom and prosperity for our nation, once the center of finance
and trade for our world--could become a pile of ashes and debris
within seconds? Who could have understood that thousands of human
lives, blossoming like flowers, could wither so suddenly? Or those
hundreds of selfless rescue workers could be swept away by a billowing
sea of fire? Who could have dared to imagine how many parents would
never again see their daughters and sons returning home? How many
children would call out for mom or dad, never again to hear a reply?
How many families, and young couples just dreaming of families,
could be instantly separated, never to be together again?
Plumes
of smoke still issue from the vast wreckage, but what torments
my soul is what issues from the mourners around me: grief, confusion,
fear. I am facing a massive wound, a wound that is still bleeding;
through the open wound I can see the injured heart of an entire
nation.
In
New York's piercing winter wind, I become aware of a mission,
one to which I know myself to be duty-bound. Because I am from
China, and because I have lived in Tibet, I have known disasters--both
natural and man-made--which inevitably result in an abyss of misery
and desolation. I have learned that one who knows how to stand
firm and upright in this life, is one who has had to rise again
and again from being beaten down. I have learned, too, that only
the staunch can heal the wounded heart, and that only the hopeful
can empower the battered soul, filling it with the inner strength
to
awaken
from malicious blows, that it may face unbearable suffering without
shrinking, and eventually, triumph.
During
an agonizingly cold winter on the Tibetan plateau, when I was
so near freezing that I could feel my body heat draining away,
and when I was surrounded by nothing but the wild screams of the
wind, I heard one other voice: The Voice of America. Though faint
and distant on my tiny transistor radio, this voice assured me
that on our earth, humanity could live in freedom, democracy,
and peace; this voice was like a torch blazing in the dark, and
it guided my spirit to a diverse and tolerant world, in which
all human beings can rejoice.
So I pour all
my heart and soul into my painting Freedom. This painting is about
the spirit of liberty, about the dream of peace, about the universality
of
love, about the
power of determination, and, last but not least, about the hope
of mankind. This painting demonstrates my belief that the spirit
of freedom will tower upright on the wreckage of the World Trade
Center, so that everyone who faces the scar will also find in
it dignity and inspiration. Standing at this sacred site, people
will reaffirm their faith in peace and in freedom, and the strength
to heal will come in the form of hope, rising like a phoenix from
the literal ashes. Only this hope, this spiritual power which
originates deep inside human souls and connects us to the vast
universe, will sustain us to defeat any evil that threatens humanity,
and guide us to pursue the noble cause of peace.
Freedom
is not just a painting; it serves as a monument--a monument to
our fearless pioneers, to our founding fathers, to our heroes,
past and
present,
who devoted their lives to the high cause of peace, and to the many
generations who have pursued, and continue to pursue, their dreams,
under the torch held high by the statue of liberty.
I
dedicate this painting to the thousands of lives that perished
during the attack of September 11. It serves to remind us that
though evil may end human lives, it will never destroy the human
soul.
I
dedicate this painting to America, for its dream of hope when
I was entangled in a nightmare of darkness and bitter cold.
I dedicate
this painting to all people throughout the world who love freedom,
democracy, and peace. These ideals are not limited by the boundaries
of race, nation, or faith, but unite all of us on earth, and light
the way to our future.
:
626-839-1686
:
626-839-1616 
.8:30am
to 5:00pm PST
