With You presents the Chinese character “㕛” (yǒu), which means “friend” or “friendship”. The work continues the artist’s exploration of the idea of repetition through the Chinese character “又” (yòu) that doubles as a homonym for the second-person pronoun “you” in English. Historically, the Chinese character “又” was derived from the pictograph of the right hand. By repeating “又” twice, the character “㕛” represents two right hands, which pictographically manifests a mutually supportive relationship between two parties. Today, the character “㕛” is obsolete and it has transformed into “友” (yǒu), also means “friend” or “friendship”. In corroded copper, With You considers the promise and curse of repetition in all human relations, from friends to frenemies, from alliance to betrayal. One could never be sure if the hand exists to assist or to sabotage.

*The calligraphic style of With You is digitally constructed based on select works of Tsue Ta Tee (1903–1974), a Nanyang calligrapher known for his innovative combination of ancient and modern scripts.