Recently, the exhibition "Floating Realms: Lin Mingjie's Transcendental Spiritual Landscapes" was held at the Liaotian Art Service Center in Shanghai's M50 Creative Park. The exhibition, which focuses on small and medium-sized works from various creative stages, guides the audience into the artist's spiritual landscape that transcends media and time through three narrative chapters: "The Realm of the Mind," "The Realm of the Future," and "The Realm of Fragments."
Exhibition site
In a world where digital and real intertwine, and history and future overlap, people increasingly live in a floating "boundary"—a multi-layered world that is both real and virtual, both historical and future, both personal and collective. Lin Mingjie uses multiple media, including oil painting on canvas, wood-fired ceramics, ink and color on paper, and digital creations, to construct a visual language that possesses both material warmth and virtual symbolism.
Exhibition site
The exhibition focuses on small- to medium-sized works that the artist has not systematically exhibited for many years, many of which were created on stained and wrinkled discarded paper. In sharing his creative process, he mentioned that he intentionally chose these "imperfect" bases, explaining that "continuing to paint on random surfaces is itself a game of randomness." He sometimes rubs paint between two sheets of paper, using the marks and accidental effects to trigger the next stage of creation. This "playful" state allows him to relax, and over the years, he has accumulated a series of small works full of life and texture.
Untitled, ink and color on paper
Untitled, ink and color on paper
The artist believes that a vast web of thought has gradually formed in the course of human civilization, providing both protection and constraint. Science and art are often the "fish" that slip through the mesh. He also cautions that once these escaped fish grow into renowned artists and masters, "people will change from despisers and hunters to worshippers, followers, and defenders. Gradually, the escaped fish will transform into a new web." This cycle of "escaping" to "becoming a web" reveals the dynamic and complex fate of art throughout history. The exhibition, academically curated by renowned curator Lu Rongzhi, will run until January 10, 2026.
