Feng Jie

The transformations of images in reality are complex and multifaceted, encompassing both natural scenes and social imagery. When confronted with such subjective and objective phenomena, what kind of images should painting present, and what should it depict? These are the questions I have been exploring in my practice in recent years. My aim is to attain a sense of freedom from reality while generating intentional images that transcend emptiness. This process involves gradually merging external impressions with inner perception. I have shifted from reinforcing and extracting elements of real images to imbue them with symbolic meaning, toward an approach rooted in the traditional Chinese concept of “mental imagery” (xin xiang).

In my paintings, I choose to weaken the specific details of tangible objects, allowing color and form to gradually merge through repeated application. Forms diffuse across the picture plane, and colors disperse, creating a poetic, illusory realm.

This illusory realm embodies a process, a state of transformation, and a sense of calm and quietude produced through control. Within it, I seek a balance and a subtle, reclusive transformation. For me, figuration and abstraction, flatness and spatiality, can coexist within a particular threshold; the instant of transformation is precisely the moment of symbiosis. Through continuous repetition and layering, the flat surface gradually acquires dimension, while forms slowly solidify into a state of virtuality. This repetitive process is not mere duplication—it is a search for variation through accumulation, a way of embedding nuance within ambiguity. Within certain limits, this accumulation achieves a convergence of the finite and the infinite.