To sum up. during unit 1 I just wanted to achieve the point "visual quality is the all " by purely applying oil paints and exhibiting oil language. I was looking for and experimenting with an approach that allows me to work out my painting. for settling down and rehearsing working method (methodology) I have taken the inspiration and reference from artist like Tuymans and Richter as well as Chinese artist Li Changlong, since I always consider that focusing on shape, color, texture, and perspective is the intrinsic property for most painters. In the same time, I also reflected that what can I do to involve those painterly qualities(issues) with what I have been thinking about and, since the painterly issue is the very comprehensive and general topic that each painter need to deal with. by only talking about that is not a feasible way for me to reach an integral and systematic study and promotion.  

 

  later, after entering unit2, I have shifted part of my focus to the current issue post-truth, that is a phenomenon in which, people art becoming more and more suspicious to the reality presented by various news agencies. and truth has lost its standard for people to judge one thing whether it is really the fact or fiction. similar to the reporting and story-telling, painting has its own way to depict and describe any events but in a distinctly illustrative way. in this case, I considered that a feasible way to blend my painting practice with the ideas of post-truth is to set up a form, that allows me to interpret one subject through gathering two or more objects that are historically and symbolically relevant and accountable to each other. Thus, I then produced paintings named Protestor and Patrol based on the current French mass protest - 'yellow vest', which are  joined by a contemporary figure and a ceramic horse, generally speaking, these two are not relevant at all, but in painting, the co-existence of them is quite harmonious through the painterly gestures. Also, the figure of horse has long been adopted to signify a sense of conflict and war,  here, it is capable of helping the whole image create the sense of unease and tension, which have already disappeared from the reference image during its public circulation. So this is a way to build a relationship connecting two characters that are from different space and time in the same context. that is partly because they have the same experience as victim or destroyer to some extents, or perhaps the narrative and fiction created in the painting have contributed to this connection. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I see my painting as a subjectively impartial attitude to what has happened, or what is happening somewhere else since there is no reference to truly why it happened. One thing needs to be clear is that I'm not trying to convince people to stand in my position, rather by exhibiting my painting I would like them to cultivate their own perspective to the encountered images, through the observing process. One image can only have its value and function to transmit memory, collective experience and ideas by being carefully observed, but in the digital age, people are being bombarded by countless images that contain fallacy, falsehood, and manipulation. as a result,  they do not even spend a second on seeing an image not to mention analyzing it, Thus now is a time when most digital pictures and photographs are losing their ground and painting can have something to do. Painting as the second management on people' s experience of the world contains painterly elements and multi-narratives, which encourage people to start thinking and recalling through the observation of details and aesthetic value.

 

  since a long time, I have been fascinated with the painting techniques in the late work by Changlong Li, and even tried to learn his approach in dealing with details the boundary between characters and background, and developing layers. from his early work to the present, we can see a significant transformation in terms of the painting techniques and narrative manners. In his early work, he paid more attention to the conceptual thins that he now considers as the aspect that he is not best at. Instead, taking the visual as the concept may happen to be what he is quite excellent. As a result of it, all the straightforward narration and dramatic characters then have been internalized, from communicating with audiences to staying behind the brush strokes and color layers, which is similar to what we can perceive when observing Francis Bacon's painting ( although I do not know if Li has been influenced by Bacon ), the vast flat spaces and starkly geometric composition. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  However, Li once said in his interview that" my painting approaches comply with the principles of the very traditional oil painting technique, although there are a lot of visual disparities between them, actually, the basic rules of classic oil painting has been applied in my working process ". so in order to not simply stimulate Li's techniques, I have realized that I need to figure out how to evolve my own painting methods by rehearsing the conventions of the oil painting and being more proficient in the use of oil material.

  

  Throughout Bacon's oeuvre, my interest is in both the human figures that were stripped down into their bare essentials and the abstraction in his starkly minimal composition. this way to describe objects reflects the lack of transparency and understanding of the real story. I suggest that there are notions of artificiality and realness in Bacon's work, the more artificial painting is the more reality it contains。he wants his work to look like real, or perhaps in his opinion the artificial is real, just like the reality has been fabricated.

 

  Theoretically, the books and interpretations produced by journalist, and socialists to identify the phenomenon of post-truth have introduced me fresh insights into the ways people perceive reality, also it has affected my motivation for painting practice. actually, in this contemporary age, Truth has become more and more abstract due to the intrinsic cognitive dissonance of human beings, misrepresentation, and manipulation from mass media. There's a gap between reality and its possible representations. And that gap is impossible to close. So as artists, we must try different strategies for provocating and interrogating the public, and to sensitize people, to evoke collective empathy, to encourage viewers to question the content.

 

  In my recent work, speech,a half face of the character was deliberately stripped out so that people can not recognize the facial expressions and emotions and even the identity of him. Only the microphone and colored fringe provide viewers with a cue to his personal dignity and social state-quo. In painting, the person is trying to complete the conviction of the listener. Which implies a present trending that language strategies are being adopted to blur the boundary between truth and fiction. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After this, I made another portrait painting where is he? at the first time, it depicted two well-known political figures, which from my own perspective was too much predominant information that made the whole image very noisy, and people might find it quite shallow and superficial in terms of concept and conversation, misleading viewer to think about the subject with Brexit or political conflicts, and preventing viewers to explore more ideas. actually, we can not simply equal an artwork with politics, since the reality is much more complicated than that. afterward, I made a big transformation in the male figure by replacing it with an ancient statue that is less-known and able to introduce different narratives. the face of the female is blurred as if her very identity is being disrupted, annihilated in the process of painting. The manner in which I use photographic sources and then paints images which blur, scrap and obfuscate these sources has led to the obvious reference to Francis Bacon, whose work always fascinates me, especially, his technique to do portrait, almost all the characters in his work are stripped down to the most essentials, some people may recognize the face he painted, at the same time, find the difficulty to distinguish between fiction and reality in the specific moment. he considered himself as a realist painter, I suggest that he wanted to make painting artificial since the more artificial painting is the more reality it contains. He wanted his work to look like real, or perhaps in his opinion, the artificial is real, just like the reality has already been fabricated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The motivation to produce a painting representing British politician attributes to the present British situation and European political landscape that are swift transforming, since the time when I came to England, then the constant news and updates about Brexit come to fill the impression and memory. I think this painting serves as a sort of record of history, by which I hope it will speak something in years later. at this point, I have referred to the work by Pei Ming Yan, the subjects of his early work many come from a particular period of the world history that countries were experiencing a huge change, paintings that use iconic images are the key elements constituting his intimate and personal memory and imagination. He was not the only one to go through this complex experience, of course; an entire generation that has experienced and survived the dramatic changes of global geopolitics. Ming’s painting is capable of revoking empathy within audiences according to their personal memory and experience of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​