The upcoming solo exhibition "Phantom Dream" by Fang Jianxi at Gen Gallery is my third involvement in his personal projects. Over the past three years since 2021, we have navigated the challenging times of the pandemic and witnessed the artist's growth throughout a period of serene creativity. This exhibition features three series from the artist’s latest works: "Faint Light City", "Faint Light Clues" and "Theater", which collectively showcase his reflections on the materialized relationship between light and shadow in dreams.

The term "dream traces" refers to the profound impact and marks left by dreams on the real world. It encompasses not only the lingering effects of dream scenarios on personal emotions and psychological states but also how dreams serve as symbols for exploring the inner world and subconscious in culture, literature, and art. It further discusses issues such as the ephemeral life experiences triggered by dreams, the influence of memory on dream construction, the role of memory in individual life experiences, and the boundaries between dreams and reality, as well as between the present and the past. Fang Jianxi uses painting to reflect on the mysteries of life, making the "phantom" evoked by "dream traces" a central theme of this exhibition and a core element of his creative process.

In his paintings, metaphorical images, symbols, color blocks, and lines are intricately woven together, compressing the visual space through overlapping. The choice and arrangement of these symbols often stem from the artist’s responses to external stimuli and internal emotions. He intentionally creates visual disorientation and contradictions to engage with the viewer’s psyche, triggering an extreme narrative mode that conveys detachment and anti-sensory calm. This approach points to the artist's creative origin—dreams—representing a state of half-wakefulness and half-dreaming. Fang Jianxi seeks fantastical effects within different dreams and roots these sensations in memory, forming visual experiences. His paintings navigate the psychological boundary between dreams and reality, imbued with a sense of illusion and fog. As Schopenhauer describes in "Critique of Kant's Philosophy"，The visible world we live in is a product of illusion, a deceptive magic that presents a baseless, non-essential appearance by comparing visual fantasies and space. This visible world is a layer of murky fog surrounding human consciousness, simultaneously erroneous and real, such that one can claim its nonexistence while acknowledging its existence.

Whether dreams exist, their authenticity, and the underlying significance are probably understood only by the dreamer or the creator of the dream. However, throughout history, "dreams" have served as a link to the "transcendent world". From world mythologies to the concept of gods, dreams have been seen as tools for divine revelation. In ancient Greek mythology, Morpheus, the god of dreams, conveyed messages from the gods through dreams, which not only foretold the future but also symbolized mysterious powers. The use of dreams to construct supernatural forces has existed since ancient times. People entered mystical realms through dreams, interacting with deities and strange beings, thus creating myths. In the Mesopotamian "Epic of Gilgamesh", Gilgamesh receives divine guidance through dreams, aiding his heroic growth and transformation. In the Bible, Joseph interprets prophetic revelations through dreams. Dreams operate freely within their self-created virtual worlds, becoming an ineffable reality and a source of profound questions about human existence. Psychologist and psychoanalyst Joseph Campbell, in his work "The Hero with a Thousand Faces", explores the psychological basis of myths and dreams and how they reflect human inner experiences and social culture. He stated that "dreams are personal myths, and myths are socialized dreams. They reflect the mysterious elements of reality that cannot be concretely depicted. Thus, the heroes and issues explored in myths are very close to real-life societ".

His so-called "mystery of dreams" also reflects a blurred state in our perception of reality, perhaps because it is too close and too real, thus it must be mysterious and vague. Dreams, with their transcendent qualities, become an entry point for Fang Jianxi’s creations and also serve as an outlet presented visually. In this process, Fang Jianxi becomes the most crucial part of this internal cycle. In "Faint Light City", he attempts to immerse himself in a memory the conflict and reconciliation between urban progress and individual existence. In this series, Fang Jianxi creates strange scenes through distorted realities, displaced time and space, and confused logic - deformed cities display disruptions in space and form, buildings merge in irregular twists, and streets extend chaotically like a dream. The entire city seems to be at the intersection of time and space, filled with surreal fluidity and endless change.

Everyday perception transforms into symbols of the subconscious, much like surrealist painting. Fang Jianxi intentionally reveals strange and irrational scenes from the subconscious. In "Faint Light Clues", the artist envelops the entire atmosphere in a detached black space, where an abstract figure drifts alone, resembling an invisible specter. The scattered shapes and symbols silently linger in an elusive manner, as if whispering hidden stories. The figure's outline is both blurred and dynamic, interacting with the silence and becoming a focal point and flowing poetry within it. Through free association and irrational thinking, the artist seeks to explore deeper truths by combining different elements on the canvas, creating extraordinary surreal scenes. This creative approach aligns with the core of "mad rationalism", which emphasizes maintaining reason and control while profoundly exploring and challenging reality. This blend of rationality and irrationality is vividly expressed in surrealism. The darkness of the subconscious stores his past experiences, which are only reactivated in front of the canvas, manifesting these symbolic images.

In the "Theater" series, similar symbols reappear, alongside new elements such as masks from a circus, animal silhouettes, pointed clown hats, and distorted stages. This series enhances the dramatic effect, combining realistic physical spaces with figures and objects that transcend time and space, creating a materialized relationship between light and shadow.

"Phantom Dream" serves as a showcase of Fang Jianxi’s work over the past three years and introduces a new visual language. These creations reflect an interplay of addition and subtraction; each piece often undergoes significant changes, sometimes displaying direct sharpness and at other times, remaining vague. The repeated revisions result in works that are both rich and subtle, detailed yet ambiguous. Behind each piece lies considerable effort, yet the final presentation appears deceptively simple. The interplay of addition and subtraction, layering and overlaying, does not cancel each other out but rather creates intriguing visual contrasts. The contrast between distant observation and close inspection allows the monotonous dark areas to reveal varying glosses, blurred structures gradually to emerge into clear planes, and the emotional authenticity of lines to coexist with visual uncertainty, providing viewers with a profound sense of depth.

Text: Edith Han