LU Song: Japanese Garden: Solo Exhibition

"Looking out from the corridor with deep eaves, there is a green maple forest. The large and spotless lacquered table in front of it reflects the green forest, like a mirror. Due to the proper arrangement, there is neither sky nor ground in the field of vision. There is only green that is like ocean waves. If you stand in a proper position, you will find that the wood structure of the building with moderate thickness happens to cut the garden view. Each cut lattice looks like a complete landscape painting as if the gardener repairs the outdoor vegetation based on the structure of the building. "
-- LU Song

"What’s interesting is LU’s pursuit. He chases, seeks, and builds on the canvas. He lures the viewer’s gaze, he seeks it. He builds the 'lead' in his mind’s eye -- the component that captures the viewer’s eyes at once. Every painting leads the viewer’s eye down a different path. Though every painting in the Japanese Garden series is based on the same blurred and wrinkled photograph, every time LU paints that photograph, he constructs a wholly new 'Japanese garden'." 

"Each time, his depiction, his lead, his construction -- they all originate from singular moments in which his mental state, mood, and the way the canvas is responding determine his next steps and the steps after that. LU chases the paintbrush, the paintbrush constructs the storyline. Every image is an invitation, every Japanese Garden is a jaunt through the garden. The gaze follows the mood, just as the audience follows the actor...... LU had no script in the creation of Japanese Garden. Each new painting was a brand new chase, and a brand new storyline -- a most exhausting labyrinth. This is what excites him -- the unknown conclusion."
Adapted from “LU Song’s Japanese Garden and Friday’s Desert Island” by SHEN Qilan