Artist: Leting CaiArtist: Leting Cai
Lake Rocks/ Imitational Mountains 假山石
Stainless Steel 不锈钢
30 x 213 cm (12 x 84 inches)
2025《Lake Rocks / Imitational Mountains》系列通过在不锈钢板上手工切割与淬火，打造出尽可能贴近现实比例的“假山”造型。每片钢板经高温热处理后弯曲、扭转，再相互嵌合成山的形态，无任何焊接点，仅依靠类似毛毡针刺的穿孔方式，以张力与平衡自我支撑。这一结构特性使得作品在不同场地安装时，每一次都会呈现出全新的姿态，如同真正经风化的假山般不断生成与变化。
钢板表面结合了“汾水”工艺——一种源于青花瓷的高温上釉技法——赋予金属细腻的釉蓝色泽；再经丙烷火焰灼烧，留下随材质结构与厚度而生的流动性、不确定的肌理，呼应石体的风化质感。部分竖立的钢片利用不同的淬火光晕与凹嵌方式，在前后层次间投下深浅不一的阴影，强化了假山的空间感与立体性。
Lake Rocks / Imitational Mountains is a series created by hand-cutting and heat-tempering stainless-steel sheets to form “scholar’s rock” structures at near life-like scale. Each sheet is heat-treated, bent, and twisted before being interlocked into the mountain form. With no welding points, the work relies on a puncturing method—similar to needle felting—where tension and balance allow it to stand on its own. This structural nature makes each installation site-specific, shifting into a new configuration every time, much like natural garden rocks that weather and transform over time.
The steel surface is finished using Fen Shui—a high-temperature glazing technique historically used in blue-and-white porcelain—giving the metal a subtle, glazed-blue patina. It is then scorched with a propane torch, creating fluid, unpredictable markings that respond to the sheet’s structure and thickness, echoing the weathered texture of stone. In certain upright plates, varied tempering halos and recessed inlays are used to cast shadows of differing depth, enhancing the mountain’s layered spatiality.