Some western artists look east for inspiration. What do you think they are looking for?
While I can't really speak about others' views, I can speak about my own Chinese heritage in my work. What has influenced me most is not simply a visual style, but a sense of patience within the creative process and an uncompromising pursuit of perfection in art itself. More than any specific object or technique, I think this artistic attitude, this relentless pursuit of refinement and perfection, has had the deepest influence on me.
Mercury.N
I’ve spent a great deal of time studying traditional Chinese artistic practices, including ink painting, mineral pigment painting, and traditional tea ceremony. All value patience in pursuit of perfection.
Take mineral pigment painting as an example. Its colors are not created through direct mixing, but through the layering of multiple pigments. Beneath what appears to be a simple blended surface, there may actually be several hidden layers of color. After each application, the artist must wait for the
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surface to dry naturally, sometimes for days, before continuing. In the final stage, the painting is polished to gradually reveal the colors concealed underneath.
What part of your photography owes its aesthetic understanding to your Chinese heritage?
The concept of negative space, or liubai in Chinese. In Chinese culture, liubai is an essential aesthetic philosophy: it allows emptiness itself to create space for the viewer’s imagination. I often explain it through the difference between text and image. When someone reads a piece of writing, they naturally imagine the scene being described, and that imagined image changes depending on each person’s experiences and emotions. The beauty created in that process is indefinite, boundless, and deeply personal. But once those words are directly visualized and fully rendered, the freedom of imagination disappears. Sometimes the audience even feels disappointed, because the open space created by absence has been taken away.
That, to me, is the power of liubai. The emotional and psychological reaction that happens inside that empty space can sometimes be more meaningful than the artwork itself.
Do you see an impact on your work from other cultures and traditions?
I draw inspiration from everywhere. What unfamiliar cultures first give me is a sense of freshness. I think people are naturally attracted to things they don’t fully understand, like a song in a language you cannot speak, or a vague and tender piece of poetry. Mystery often feels more seductive than something overly familiar or easily explained.
However, because my understanding of other cultures was sometimes limited, I’ve also made mistakes. When I was working