The life of all living creatures is a continuation of creation and destruction. The process of birth, growth, decline, and death is not an exception for any creature, but the death of one creature leads to the birth of another. To the artist, fish symbolizes the continuity of life that leads to infinity like the Möbius strip. Following the birth and growth of one creature in the fish's back—a cradle of life—the creature reaches the pinnacle of its life like a splendid fin. As the gaunt face and ribs of the fish say, however, all life eventually takes one step toward the downhill road and end of life. And again, another creature will be born. In this artwork, the fish—a symbol of birth, old age, illness, death, and reincarnation, as well as the artist's core motif—was reborn as a wooden fish, a ‘sleepless ascetic.’
