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.

Pentalogy

By Li Muzi, Department of Oil Painting

“Pentalogy” comes from the subconscious world within my mind. I think painting is more direct and intuitive than words, and what I want is to directly depict my mind rather than making up a dream. In a sense, art is an artist’s “daydream”: a dream made during the day, in which the artist undergoes a series of complex and individualized visual effects to reveal the personal subconscious world to viewers.

Although they seem to be rough, lacking in detail, overexposed, and faded, I re-selected these image resources, and “tampered” with them in an attempt to restore a “real” daydream that belonged to me.

Pentalogy, 2025. Oil on canvas, 230x205cm, 40x40cm.

“I dream of the world, so the world exists as I dream.” In my opinion, the subject-object relationship between dream and world cannot be strictly distinguished. The world of dreams and the world in which viewers live are intertwined. This blend of subject and object is the consciousness of the dream that I want to express. With just rational thinking, one cannot recognize the world of dreams, and only by devoting oneself to the world of worlds and merging with it can the consciousness of dreams be generated. Seeing the world in a dream is tantamount to seeing oneself in a dream, there is no restriction of external objects outside the dreamer, and all finitude can be transcended to achieve the realm of oneness containing matter and self. This is quite similar to the so-called “unity of heaven and man”(Nature and humanity) in Chinese philosophy.

However, in the identity of dreams and the world, imagination and dreams exist independently of subject and object, and precede the division of subject and object. Dreams have the power to create the world, and the world dreamed of by the dreamer is not a simple reflection of the real world, but is shaped by the dreamer’s consciousness. For example, I present external objects through “my thoughts” and thus transform them into existence, so that the ordinary flowers, trees, bricks and tiles become images in my wonderful thoughts, and the objects themselves produce the change of existence.

Pentalogy (detail)

All five paintings of “Pentalogy” unfold with light as a clue.

The girl in No. 1 was lying on her back in the grass with her arms stretched, free and brisk, and the sun at 2 o’clock in the afternoon sprinkled at will, with the spots of light grew bright stripes on the girl through the blades of grass. The images of bubbles, optical fibers, water droplets, and goldfish in No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 are the outward manifestation of the girl’s subconscious. They constitute parts of the music, and prove a reasonable existence in her real world.

Pentalogy No.1Pentalogy No.2Pentalogy No.3Pentalogy No.4Pentalogy No.5

I set the time dimension as daylight, and used overexposure and out-of-focus effects to create a dreamy atmosphere. The expression of exposure and fluorescence of the first impression is straightforward to convey feelings, and every pure color effectively conveys emotions. The indirect, intellectual, and hazy picture looks more contemporary, and the visual effects can also make viewers drift into reverie.

The Creative Process

The painting process of my existing work lasted about three months. I took use of scumble that is not usually used. The choice of media in my work is the most intuitive part of my themed expression, and I trusted that the hazy, faded, and disappearing details of my paintings show my dreamy theme more intuitively and appropriately.

Exhibition View of Pentalogy

My love for painting since I was a child is like a seed buried deep in my heart, as it takes root and grows strongly, and becomes a powerful motivation for me to persist in learning and creating. In the four years I have studied at CAFA, this love has become the source of my continuous exploration and innovation. Each of my creation interprets my perception of life and the world. Upon graduation, I know that there will be more challenges and difficulties on the road of art. With a love for painting in my heart, this “light” will always lead me to chase it and encourage me to firmly walk on the road of art.

A Workshot of Li MuziPortrait of Li Muzi

Courtesy of Li Muzi, edited (EN) by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.