It has been quite a few years since my last attempt at working with different series. It had been in the making for many years, but the imaginings of creating only came together unexpectedly at the right time. I had not created in series after “Ashen Face”, for it is almost like binding myself with an unseen lock. However, I can still put some of my latest works into a few categories: my favoured female portraits in the style of “Ashen Face” with new techniques and a changed style, “Lumière”, “Syrian Children” and “Historical Figures”.

The transformation from “Strawberry Generation” to “Ashen Face” is an extended study on a similar subject. The “Strawberry Generation” focuses on the understanding of one’s nationality, the political environment, and one’s own culture. “Because we have failed to find our own cultural uniqueness, our generation would like to establish our own, and what is unique about our culture is that there is nothing distinguishing about it (or a mixed character).” The “Strawberry Generation” series was roughly developed on such principles, and the later “Strawberry Generation — The Night Marching” series aims to explore the psychological side of this particular generation and their uneasiness towards society and politics.

The “Ashen Face” series speaks not only of one’s confusion over nationalism, culture and politics, but also of the disorderly border between one’s mind and the gateway to the world; the paintings build up towards this direction, with shared feelings about the generation and the desire to clarify one’s inner world among the chaos.

Such feelings are no longer hidden. If I were to review the year 2019 from the future, we would undoubtedly agree that it is a low point for a generation, or even a time of anxiety and wantonness. Yet when the “Ashen Face” series was created around 2010, such feelings were not yet clarified, and compared to the earlier “Strawberry Generation”, the topics “Ashen Face” focuses on are far more extensive.

After “Ashen Face” and years of exploration (even until now), I have found four new categories I am keen to explore — female portraits as an extension to “Ashen Face”, “Lumière”, “Syrian Children” and “Historic Figures”.

These new works are no longer the reiteration of one’s inner insecurity and confusion, for I have become more interested in the study of faith, death and life, pain, love, consciousness, wisdom, and the representations of this new generation.

In the “Female Portraits” I have kept the purest elements, with plants, mist and an air of haziness — the uncertainty and holiness of lives are beautiful, yet do not indicate that fate is without danger.

For the “Lumière” series, I would like to maintain a pure, solemn, somber and tranquil air, which are the languages of god; all else is a poor translation. The inspiration came from a wall in my studio in Sanzhi. I was going through a major change in life, and for three months I did nothing but read in front of this wall; it was all I saw when I lifted my eyes from the pages. I was inspired by a sense of holiness in this everyday scene, as if anyone who immersed themselves in the infinite love between the wall and myself would be enlightened. At such a moment, life and death, chaos and order, faith and wantonness, liberty and confinement, the uncrossable gap between here and the other shore, are all merged into one. My art is a mysterious game between the two shores.

I saw a heart-breaking international report on Syrian children in 2016, and came to a conclusion: any significant experience one goes through remains in one’s eyes, as some kind of sparkle, but exceptionally dark at the same time. I believe one’s soul would shine in certain circumstances, and in that light, that spark, is what I want to capture. Many things are based on fiction — the concept of a nation, of money, of religion — or one could say we are all living and busying ourselves in this world for unrealistic goals. Yet one would never doubt one’s existence when one is suffering, for it is the only thing that is real.

The “Historic Figures” are inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings. I could almost see the light of wisdom in the lines, and they encouraged my interest in calligraphy. I also took inspiration from a library where black-and-white photographic works hang above the bookshelves. One may sense that the air in a library differs from the air outside, while the air in a library of long history is particularly different, for the breaths of generations of philosophers still linger, and I know they are present. By contrast, one cannot help but wonder “What have we been doing?” in our own generation. It is as if I am not painting portraits of historical figures, but the remains of wisdom, the ghost of great thoughts. The relationship between these figures and us is defined not by their life or death, but by our understanding of them; their existence may fade into thin air, depending on how we remember them.

My painting techniques have changed through these past years of exploration. If one sees hyper-realistic painting as a path and the change of style as its finishing line, then one could certainly reach higher ground before that change, yet stay within the same path. Just like the wise Leonardo da Vinci I mentioned, whose accomplishment extended beyond visual art, breaking away from the path to a vast plain.

There are only borders to the plain, but no order. I have been trying to navigate where I am and where I should head in these past years — meaning I have slowly been moving away from hyper-realistic painting. At the moment I quite enjoy the art of calligraphy, and this is where I would like to steer. Looking at the current art world, more and more paintings are included in exhibitions, with influences from the Renaissance to modernism and contemporary art philosophy. One sees it in pioneers such as Gerhard Richter, Luc Tuymans, Michaël Borremans, Peter Doig, Jenny Saville and Adrian Ghenie. These inspirational artists’ works reflect the reinterpretation of photography in figurative painting, and they light up the path where I am heading.