The philosopher Immanuel Kant once remarked that the world is an uncertain reality, merely a projection of the categories of our own minds. Artist Geng Xue explores this very notion, tracing the trajectory of thought within a liminal space between reality and surreality, probing the mysteries of heaven and earth. Geng’s creative materials derive from both the rational experiences of the visible world and the sensory experiences of the invisible realm. These overlapping temporal and spatial experiences are reflected in her work, evoking the possibility that we may exist in a multiverse of colliding and layered dimensions.
Driven by a profound curiosity about nature, life, and the cosmos, Geng Xue created her Cosmos: Liaozhai Series. Drawing from the tale of “The Painted Skin” in Liaozhai, she raises questions about the interplay of form and formlessness, void and reality, the visible and the invisible. She asks: If a “ghost” manifests itself by painting a skin, then who paints the skin that shapes our world? Is our visible reality merely a painted skin created by an invisible “ghost”? With boundless imagination, Geng investigates the skin of the cosmos and the magic of the heavens. From piling sand and measuring the human form to folding paper, casting shells, and reflecting the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky, she attempts to divine the rules of nature from a non-human, non-subjective perspective. Her work seeks the creases of time and space within the universe, unlocking the deep codes of time, memory, the body, and thought hidden within.
Modern astronomy tells us that the universe originated from a singularity, which simultaneously disintegrates into a singularity. The events and experiences emerging from the singularity have no predetermined outcome or purpose, yet they form the displacements of the visible world. The singularity can also be seen as the source of a spiritual explosion or as the creative force of art itself. Philosopher Gilles Deleuze posits that aesthetic experiences stemming from singularities are vital means to comprehend and interact with the truths of the universe. Geng Xue’s art embodies such a spiritual and aesthetic experience. She juxtaposes traditional ceramic forms, objects, and silk with cutting-edge technological installations, tracing the spiritual trajectories between the light and dark of heaven and earth through holes and folds. Her works connect the symbolic system of ancient I Ching trigrams with contemporary astrophysics, using Liaozhai stories to mirror modern mythology. By breaking the linearity of past, present, and future, Geng seeks an escape from the constraints of reality’s rules, revealing a hidden yet indomitable resilience.
Text by Shao Yiyang
