Editor’s note: Themed on “Chasing the Light”, 2025 CAFA Graduation Season kicked off at CAFA Art Museum in early summer. Surrounded by diversified creations, visitors may find that some of graduates chose performance to burst their inner impulses, some chose to interact with the space to build their visual tension, and some got inspired from traditions to bring about more contemporary creative appearances. More young creators are paying their attention to drawing materials from the life around them, trying to capture the multiple realities of emotions, experiences and thoughts...

In these cases, the collisions between individual experience and the external world, between new and old media, as well as between virtual life and real life have repeatedly inspired their creativity that may not be perfect but fresh. CAFA graduates who believe in “light”, follow the light in their hearts and present their initial explorations of “what art is” that have been honed for several years at their degree shows. Featuring interviews with graduates at Phase B Undergraduate Students Exhibition, “CAFA Graduates Who Believe in ‘Light’”, invites graduates to talk about their creative stories from a more microscopic and in-depth perspective, and we would like to share and convey the “light” in the hearts of young people through these candid and vivid narrations.

View

By Zhang Xinyue, School of City Design

I think it’s very interesting to jump out of familiar scenes and take an infrequently used perspective. It can provide us with a lot of new ideas and perspectives, and the original idea of my work was to tell an interesting story (concept) through such a perspective that is completely different from the world we are familiar with and usually observe.

Initial Drafts for View

My inspiration was related to a game that I like very much and my work revisits the game Gorogoa at the opening. The mechanics of this game are so powerful that there are only four grids in the whole screen. By moving or clicking on these four grids, you can enlarge the picture, make combination, move or superimpose them, which produces an effect that one plus one is far greater than two. The pages of a picture book are like these four grids, can they be made to jump out of the plane and break through the space through some small structural changes? Therefore, I established a “hollowed-out” structure as the initial starting point for my creation.

A Screenshot of Gorogoa

“Perspective” is such a broad concept that what we see, observe, and think can all be classified as part of the perspective. The hollowed-out structure is not only a window of vision, but also like the eyes through which we observe the world—we construct perspectives through selective “viewing”. My choice of this theme allows for a formal experimentation around the hollowed-out structure, and it also provides a broad narrative framework that can accommodate diverse but interrelated images and stories.

I have done diversified experiments on “hollowed-out” structure through interesting details such as the first set of pictures “Dandelion or Rabbit”, “Cat and Monsters”, “Far and Near Vision” and “Cinema”. Every page of this picture book differs from each other, and there is no unified tone or element. What really makes it a whole is the internal logic that runs through each page: the “hollowing” structure and the action of “turning”. It tries to construct a stepwise narrative from the simple to the complex, from something intuitive to abstract, from a micro perspective to a macro one, so that readers can gradually immerse themselves in its rhythm and feel the fun brought by the change of perspective in the process of turning the pages.

The First Set of Pictures “Dandelion or Rabbit”“Cat and Monsters”“Far and Near Vision”“Cinema”

The most attractive part of picture books is turning the page, which cannot be replaced by any other medium. By turning the pages, a space is formed between them, and the hollow structure cleverly leaves a “breath opening”, so that there is a bridge between the two pages. In the context of my picture book, this structure represents “View”: a vision, an object to be observed. The hollowed-out hole can represent “common ownership”, “different contexts”, and “spatial entrance”, from the concept of “prominence” to the attributes of the hole itself, which can be felt in the picture book. This is the charm of a physical picture book. The hole and the page turn are like the thread that strings pearls together, although they are hidden from the pictures, they are the soul of the whole book.

View (detail)

In this current era that electronic publications are popular, I am eager to explore the characteristics and potential of traditional physical books and explore new directions.

View (Physical Book)

The main challenges in the creative process include: determining the style, keeping the restraint of pictures, controlling the precision of expression, expressing the beauty of graphics, confirming the position of hollowing, finding the rhythm of my expression, and repeatedly cutting pictures. I did not have a clear expectation of whether this book will inspire the reader in some way or not. As I want to convey in “View”: anything in the world can be observed and interpreted from countless perspectives. I hope that readers can feel this possibility in the process of reading—feel the diversity and flow of “perspectives” by themselves!    

The Stylistic Iteration of ViewExhibition View of View

The “light” that supports me to persist in learning and creating comes first and foremost from my teachers, classmates and friends. Their enthusiastic and professional guidance and discussion are an important help for me to maintain my love and enthusiasm for creation. The other part of the “light” comes from my mind, as I want to express, to create, to present “excellent” works, to be seen, accepted and liked by more people. This internal drive allows me to “ride the light” while “chasing the light”. The love of creation itself “shines”, and it is this love that supports me to constantly polish my work, scrutinize the details, and finally hand over a sincere and worthwhile answer.

Portrait of Zhang Xinyue

Courtesy of Zhang Xinyue, edited (EN) by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.