Spencer fung

London-based architect, furniture designer and artist Spencer Fung’s “The Last Wilderness” paintings and mural celebrate California’s majestic tress. “I visited the Sequoia National Forest just after a winter snow storm. I was overwhelmed by the serene beauty, the magnificence and the resilience of the forest. I painted with bold strokes in Chinese ink and soil, mixed with melting snow, to connect with the nature surrounding me. My paintings are emotional and abstract. I became fascinated by the fluorescent yellow-green wolf lichen that thrives on trunks and glaciers boulders among the giant sequoias; it is the wallpaper of the forest. Wolf lichen is strong and self-sufficient and lives for thousands of years, longer than the sequoias. I like to imagine that its vivid color has evolved as a way of survival to deter predators, and I see this lichen as a symbol of survival for us all in our turbulent times. ‘The Last Wilderness’ reveals the responsibility I feel to share the incredible raw beauty I found in the Sierra Nevada, and the vulnerability of nature to human activity.”

The walls of RALPH PUCCI Los Angeles provided Spencer with an opportunity for reflection on a larger scale. Using elements of the earth, including soil and clay mixed with Chinese ink, Spencer painted two murals that evoke a fire-ravaged forest – a beautiful reminder of the perils of an eroding landscape.

For more on Spencer Fung, read the Summer 2019 issue of Design LA Magazine

Photography by Chris Fortuna