Colors reflect the most primitive and intuitive sense in my creations. I carve out a promising career as an artist by observing the riotous profusion of creatures in the sunlight and feeling the profound sense of existence in the earth. In the Wild Fire series, the flaming red color symbolizes my inherent power of creation, with which I attempt to nestle up against a more internalized experience and inquiry amidst composition and physical energy in the linear yet intricate course of time. The themes of my previous works were closely interconnected with the power of animating. The presence and transformation of the materials in those works rested upon the energy provided by the sun. Nevertheless, I set out on an utterly disparate journey when creating the Stars series. The series conveys a sense of profundity with a gloomy hue, demonstrating the shift of my focus from earth and sunlight to the consolation offered by the shimmering stars.
Indeed, my life ushered in a whole new stage with the birth of my baby. I feel a delicate connection to nature when every time I have its warm breath against my chest. In the still of night when I am temporarily spared from the stimuli provided by the new life, I tend to look up at the sky, pondering on the mystery of life. The tranquility of the world in the night prompts people to meditate beneath the immense expanse of the firmament. Previously, I expected the arrival of a new life in a manner as pure, wild and intuitive as the riveting galaxies that are ablaze with brightly shining stars in the early pieces of my Stars series. The marvelous part is that the stars I continue to paint after the birth of my baby exhibit a subtle touch of humility to life and the universe. It implies that fatherhood is for me a journey into the unknown which I hold in awe. The bright starlight is shrouded with layers of gloomy hues. The stark contrast between the real and the virtual makes everything graceful and gentle. Different from the strong and saturated colors in my other series, the world depicted in Stars shows a greater sense of fluidity. The deep blue background serves as the perfect foil for the ethereal, vast and all-encompassing universe, which immerses me in the composition where I appreciate the precious lives in awe of their beauty.
My wife used to discuss Carl Jung with me, sharing her idea about how the psychologist was connected with Occultism. It is quite intriguing that Jung was the pioneer who introduced the oriental Mandala into the Western culture. He not only comprehended the microcosmic life structure symbolized by Mandalas, but also soothed the anxiety over the state of his quotidian existence by drawing Mandalas personally. Utilizing the scientific training he received from the academia, Jung also devoted himself to studying the ancient system of Western astrology. Although oriental metaphysics, psychology and astrology are all Greek to me, I feel real empathy for Jung and his search for inner sustenance in Occultism. Throughout my career as a painter, I have been reflecting my satisfactions and regrets in the world I created with my brushes. I depict the natural rhythm of life that can be found in the sunlit spaces where my reflections on the strength of life converge. In the Stars series, I create the vast starlit sky with superimposed strokes of ball-point pens. The halo around each star is nothing more than a dot that gives prominence to the whitespace inside it, which nonetheless exudes the charm of a flickering star. Gazing at the hazy night scene, the viewers may not only stretch their imagination in a relaxed and intuitive manner, but also find the elements constituting the scene all interconnected. Whether these flickering stars form a galaxy or a constellation, they all calmly radiate a magical aura of life, and meanwhile embody the adage: Times change, and we change with them. They are strongly reminiscent of Mandalas hanging high up in the sky, echoing the perpetuation of life amidst the real and the virtual as well as amidst birth and demise.
色彩一直是我創作裡，最原始的直覺騷動；觀看著日光下萬物成長的繽紛，感受來自泥土裡某種踏實的存在感，成為支持我創作生命中，一股穩定的存在節奏。隨後，在野火系列裡，炙紅成為另一種發自身體內在的燃燒力量；我企圖在線性錯雜的時間感裡，貼近畫面建構與身體能量之間更內化的體驗與質問。過往這些創作過程裡，我所關懷的主題，都與生命建構的力量相扣，那些物質的存在轉換，都依附著屬於陽光賦予的飽和力度。然而在星幻系列的創作過程中，我開始了一段迥異的旅程，筆下色彩幽暗深邃，遠離了土地與陽光的關照，而貼近著來自星辰微光的撫慰。
的確，我的人生進入了很不一樣的階段：從期待孩子誕生，到真實面對抱在胸懷中的微小呼息，讓人深切地感受與世界之間的微妙連結。每當夜深人靜，得以放下日間嶄新生活的各種刺激時，我經常獨自望向天空，思考生命神秘之處的意義。夜晚世界的靜謐，引領人面對天際的遼闊而沈澱。我對於新生命的期待原本是很單純而無畏的，如同在星幻系列創作的初期，看著筆下織繪出的閃爍星河，有著非常直覺的喜悅；然而在孩子誕生後，非常奇妙的，那些我繼續勾勒的星辰幻影，似乎都添上了更多對於宇宙生命的謙卑，也反映著對於未知的敬畏。繪畫過程中那些筆觸累積的深邃色調，將星光的透白包裹起來，在虛實明顯對比間，一切卻彷彿變得輕盈柔軟。相對於其他系列的飽滿或濃烈，星幻的世界顯得更具流動感，深藍托起的宇宙飄渺廣袤，具有很強的包容性，讓我在畫面的虛實佈局中，感受著宇宙生命存在的偶然之美。
太太也曾和我聊過榮格，分享這位心理學家如何與神秘學產生連結。有趣的是，榮格作為第一位將東方曼陀羅引入西方文化的人，理解它所象徵的微觀宇宙生命結構，並從親繪曼陀羅的過程去安頓個人生命的存在焦慮。而榮格也在科學教育的學術背景下，潛心地去研究西方古老占星的學說…。對於東方玄學，心理學或占星學，我一竅不通，但我理解尋求心靈寄託的神秘需求。在個人的創作歷程裡，畫家也是透過筆下的世界去呼應生命的圓滿或遺憾。在那些屬於陽光觀照的空間，我描畫的自然週而復始的律動，蘊積著對於生命力量的思索；而在星幻系列中，我透過最單純的原子筆筆觸去堆疊延展星空的無垠無邊，每一粒微塵星宿所散發的光暈只是留白的圓點聚合，畫面空間卻可以幻化出流動生滅的閃爍。在這片屬於夜光的朦朧下，視覺放鬆而直觀地連接或創造畫面不同元素之間的關聯…。這些微塵星光無論溢滿成河，或座落成型，都靜靜地訴說著生命無法掌握的靈動與無常，也彷彿是懸在空中的曼陀羅宇宙，在幻象生滅之間，回應生命存在的無限。
