Tian Mu at Jinji Lake Art Museum, Suzhou

Quietness has become a rarity in the modern world. Close your eyes and listen carefully: sounds inevitably seep into your consciousness, drop by drop. Even in dreams, silence is often absent. Upon waking in the morning, whether it’s the alarm clock, the crow of a rooster, or the chirping of birds and insects, these sounds infiltrate our awareness and gently guide us back into the waking world. Such moments mark a transition of states, a displacement born of qualitative change—an experience beyond the confines of conceptualization.

If concepts seek to convey essence, then experience lingers at its edges. Much like the static electricity sparked by touching a metal surface in a dry winter, the sensation is so vivid that it naturally provokes a search for meaning. Yet, pure experience continues to drift in the arid environment, and over time, whether or not the static occurs becomes inconsequential.

Can moments on the brink—such as waking or static electricity—take on a shape? And if so, can such shapes be sculpted? Alternatively, can these abstract moments of perception transform into tangible, tactile objects? The endeavor to mold moments of perception has been central to artist Tian Mu’s creative exploration since 2018. These moments, while devoid of specific meaning, are described by the artist as “alive” or “luminous.” In this exhibition, Tian Mu continues to employ a diverse range of media, encompassing sculpture, relief, UV printing, painting, and mixed-media installations that include video works.

All the flat images and video footage in the exhibition are captured using a smartphone in everyday settings. This deliberate choice of a non-traditional image-making process reflects the artist’s emphasis on shaping perceptions from daily life rather than relying on photographic precision or advanced equipment. In the Portrait series, for instance, the artist presents six back-view headshots, one half-face, one concealed mask, and a cross-section of an automobile under repair. Despite its title, Portrait does not include any frontal faces. By transitioning from the “human” to the “non-human,” the artist questions how our relationship with the body has evolved in an era of technological advancement and human-machine coexistence.

This question permeates Tian Mu’s work: perception originates from the body; bodies form relationships with other bodies; external factors influence these relationships; and within relationships, perceptions continuously shift. New perceptions, in turn, lead to new embodiments. What can be expressed to the outside world, however, is only the fleeting moment when perception takes form. With a palette of “subdued yet vivid colors,” Tian Mu reworks the everyday, resisting the flatness of digital imagery. His recent works integrate painting, relief, UV printing, and installation, employing diverse media to present an interplay of the mundane’s randomness and the sublime’s gravitas. In his relief works, Tian Mu selects unconventional angles of the body, such as side profiles, oblique rear views, or internal perspectives. These perspectives differ from those of commemorative portraits or medical imaging, serving no specific function. Through amplification and carving, the randomness of the image and the sublimity of the relief coexist without tension. As the artist notes, “Sublimity arises when the scale of an object exceeds the imagination’s capacity to aesthetically evaluate its dimensions.”

In Non-things, Byung-Chul Han observes that Chinese aesthetics demonstrate a profound sensitivity to the ephemerality of existence. This sensitivity to the fleeting lends soul to the Chinese aesthetic of simplicity. At first glance, the striking colors and visual intensity of Tian Mu’s work may seem

unrelated to this “simplicity.” Yet these visuals stem from the artist’s experiences at club parties worldwide. In the video work All Go Underground, for instance, he fictionalizes an underwater diving experience that connects disparate moments and spaces where parties take place. The sounds, dances, lights, scents, and temperatures within these spaces often transcend sensory perception. Immersing oneself in this ocean of sensations reveals the “negative form” of human encounters. Much like electronic music, where beats are tangible and the silences between them intangible, the interplay of presence and absence becomes fluid over time. In this sense, every surrounding sensation becomes “alive.”

The exhibition’s layout will adapt to the museum space, employing non-linear and irregular arrangements to form an open, dynamic path. This spatial design allows the architecture to “flow into” the works. One might not “view” the exhibition in the conventional sense but rather taste and experience this integrated, expansive space. As Junichiro Tanizaki describes in his depiction of savoring yokan (sweet bean jelly), even the interplay of light and shadow on the dessert becomes part of the experience: “Its pristine surface absorbs sunlight deeply, appearing as if the clarity of a dream… Served in a lacquer dish, its dim and rich hue evokes meditation. As one places this cold, smooth treat into the mouth, the darkness of the room seems to transform into a vast block of sugar, melting on the tongue.”