Statement
The idea of systems functioning under different environments intrigues me. The systems in the human body, human society, and the machine (as an invention from civilization) are all operating in a circulatory way with a repetitive, but, not always identical, pattern. In a constant rhythm, I am attracted by the little details that are not following the rules or not in the place where they are supposed to be, as well as wondering what these imperfections are, what formed them, and how they affect the normal parts.
I tried to pull out an image from my memory, as I have been wondering how my brain memorizes things. What did I notice? What did my eyes and brain grip from that scene? What’s the feature I remember the most and why this feature? Images become optically and mentally illusioned as soon as they are captured by human eyes. I am fascinated with the procedure of how a solid scene is input into my brain, and how I output the same scene but in a very vague and abstract way onto canvas. Just like a computer showing a picture with unexpected, disordered patterns on it. I was also inspired by the repetitive nature of Buddhist mantra reading, and trying to explore how my body and mind will react and respond to a certain order assigned by my brain. When I assign myself a task that is time-consuming and monotonous, my body and muscles experience a natural process to get used to it. Then the curious part comes, as soon as my muscles memorize that specific motion to make that pattern, my mind starts to get loosened and to derive around myself with an anchor pointing back to my painting. Simultaneously, I start thinking about everything and I start to not think about anything. The contrast between the clearness of the exterior of mine and the fuzziness of the interior of mine builds up a boundary between logic and chaos. This boundary functions as a dynamic to drive both the logic and chaos parts within their circulations respectively. Just like the magnetic field, there is a force, or dynamic in my case, influencing and driving me to continue with a repeating pattern. More importantly, the little waves I come across during this force piloting my body.
Considering painting as a place where consists of shared similarities among the input and output procedure, the meditative state, and the situation of my mind when I’m in the zone. It is a marvelous, timeless, immersive, non-physical realm full of freedom without any trace.
---Guanyi Chen