Renaissance Gen 8: Jichang and the Three White Rabbits(Black) SOLD OUT

【JI CHANG AND THE THREE WHITE RABBITS】

2023 / Oil on Linen

In Investiture of the Gods, Boyi Kao is the eldest son of Ji Chang, King Wen of Zhou. Gifted with exceptional intelligence, he is particularly renowned for his mastery of music.

Fearing Ji Chang's growing influence, earned through his benevolent rule and the loyalty of his people, King Zhou of Shang has him imprisoned. In an attempt to secure his father's release, Boyi Kao travels to the Shang capital bearing three precious treasures, voluntarily offering himself as a hostage in exchange for his father's freedom.

However, after rejecting the advances of Daji, the king's favored consort, Boyi Kao becomes the victim of her false accusations. He is eventually executed by King Zhou, who has his flesh made into meat cakes and presented to the imprisoned Ji Chang.

Fully aware of what lies before him, Ji Chang consumes the flesh of his own son in order to survive. According to legend, upon returning home, he brings forth three white rabbits, symbolizing the liberation of Boyi Kao's soul.

The tragedy of a father becomes, through the language of mythology, a prelude to the fall of a dynasty.

Published in 2022, The Rise and Fall of the Shang Dynasty (Jian Shang) reexamines the civilization of the Shang dynasty more than three thousand years ago through archaeological discoveries and historical records. Beyond its exploration of social structures and political institutions, the book reveals the intricate relationship between religious belief, royal authority, and the practice of human sacrifice.

When ritual sacrifice becomes the language of power, human life itself may be reduced to the price of communicating with the divine and preserving order.

The Renaissance series began in 2018. Over the following six years, the CASHONLY team evolved from studying human skeletal anatomy to exploring mythological narratives, ultimately turning its attention toward humanist thought in this collection.

Drawing upon the Renaissance spirit of rediscovering the intrinsic value of humanity, we seek to reconsider Ji Chang, King Wen of Zhou, a political leader whose image was gradually elevated to sacred status by later generations, through the perspectives of history and literature.

Stripped of his image as a sage, he is, first and foremost, a father.

Confronted with the oppression of sovereign power, he is forced to compromise between dignity and survival. Faced with the death of his son, his grief is no different from that of any ordinary person living through an age of turmoil.

Our concern is not how mythology constructs a virtuous king, but how an individual confronts his own powerlessness within an extreme structure of authority.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

— Thomas Jefferson

King Wen of Zhou represents more than the political transformation between the Shang and Zhou dynasties. He also symbolizes a later reimagining of civilization's order: a gradual movement away from a world governed through divine authority, ritual sacrifice, and violence, toward a greater emphasis on human ethics and political institutions.

Yet the advancement of civilization does not signify the end of violence.

When the divine is no longer the sole foundation of authority, has humanity truly escaped the fate of sacrificing lives in exchange for order?

Ji Chang and the Three White Rabbits takes mythology as its point of departure, seeking an answer to this question at the intersection of history, belief, and human nature.

TYPOGRAPHY & PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

The eighth generation of the Renaissance series is built around a distinct visual rhythm. Through the relationship between typography, garment construction, and painterly materials, the design unfolds across three interconnected visual chapters.

CHAPTER I / PRELUDE

A small, refined CASH logotype is applied to the front chest through #SCREEN_PRINTING. Its restrained proportions and minimal placement establish the opening note of the overall visual narrative.

CHAPTER II / CONTINUATION

The composition extends from the chest toward the lower hem. The team divides the word RENAISSANCE into two sections, positioned across the front and back of the garment. Through precise alignment during sewing, the separated letters reconnect to form the complete word across the garment's construction.

Typography, originally confined to a flat surface, becomes integrated with the garment's structure, creating a second layer of visual rhythm that shifts with the viewer's perspective.

CHAPTER III / FINALE

The back features the original oil painting Ji Chang and the Three White Rabbits as the final chapter of the design.

Heavyweight linen-textured fabric is selected as the canvas for the artwork. The original painting's colors and brushstrokes are first reproduced through #DYE_SUBLIMATION. The outline of the painted frame is then precisely cut using #LASER_CUTTING, before the artwork is secured to the back panel through #APPLIQUÉ_EMBROIDERY.

The interaction of different materials and production techniques transforms an artwork originally confined to canvas into an integral part of the garment, allowing painting to exist beyond an image merely printed on clothing.

From the typography on the chest and the structural composition extending across the garment, to the oil painting carrying a historical narrative on the back, the three chapters come together to complete the visual expression of this Renaissance collection.