Wind Water

Wind Water stages a three-way dialogue between the cultures of China, Arabia and the West. Ruiz imagines what might occur if Shih T'ao's six procedures for attaining 'cosmic breath' in painting were applied to a flagship of Western art, Velazquez's Las Meninas. These cultures interact and test each other; the result is an insoluble dispute. No reconciliation or compromise is possible between them. Ruiz's images portray a world in tatters. Fergus Daly