My practice centers on the construction of an Organic Hyper-Narrative Machine, manifested through acrylic and spray paint on canvas. By acutely capturing trending digital imagery and grafting it onto a unique narrative framework, I excavate and explore a narrative distinct from all existing forms—the organic hyper-narrative.
As a millennial, screen-based imagery has been an integral part of both my conscious experience and artistic passion. My image selection is rooted in rich, screen-mediated encounters, spanning video games, memes, film, emojis, anime, and broader meme culture. Informed by Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra in Simulacra and Simulation, I contend that contemporary high-traffic images transcend mere representation. They function as autonomous entities—signifiers severed from their original referents—forming a new “hyperreal” order.
Drawing inspiration from Japanese manga, I employ fragmented narratives, exaggerated panel compositions, and unconventional text layouts to amplify visual tension. When transient images from disparate realms are organically fused within this narrative architecture, unstable yet intricate hyper-narrative organisms emerge—machines pulsating with layered storytelling.
Within these constructed hyper-narrative systems, complex storytelling dissolves the traditional binary between “signifier” and “signified.” The latent meanings of images escape my control, instead guiding viewers into a realm of ultra-free interpretation. This liberation of semiotic boundaries defines my current exploration of hyper-narrative machinery.
UNIT3 PROPOSAL
I plan to exhibit two large-scale paintings (each approximately 150 × 200 cm) alongside three to four smaller works at the July MA Fine Art Show, extending my ongoing investigation of the Organic Hyper-Narrative Machine. For the autumn Research Festival, I intend to produce a companion book that documents my artistic journey: it will include my CV, an overview of my early developmental strategies, representative works from each phase of my practice, and the bulk of my sketch studies, all woven together with critical reflections and a clear mapping of my evolving conceptual framework.
- works and Works and details
As long as I can get there
90x150x3.6cm,Acrylic on canvas,2025
Oh, I don’t drink alcohol50x30x3.6cmx2,Acrylic on canvas,2025
Oh, I don’t drink alcohol50x30x3.6cmx2,Acrylic on canvas,2025
It should be to the left
30x40x3.6cm,Acrylic on canvas,2025
Domain expansion, call me back50x40x3.6cm, Acrylic on canvas,2025
Domain expansion, call me back50x40x3.6cm, Acrylic on canvas,2025
Don’t looking for her anymore
30x40x3.6cm, Acrylic on canvas,2025
Bon voyage20x40x3.6cmx2, Acrylic on canvas,2025
How dare U?
10x15cm, Acrylic on wood,2025
Guessed wrong
20x30x3.6cm, Acrylic on canvas,2025
No! keep dancing30x20x3.6cm, Acrylic on canvas,2025
Delicate it！Fashion pioneers90x120x3.6cmx2, Acrylic on canvas,2025
Noobs! Don’t climb alone anymore
40×50×3 cm,Acrlic on canvas,2025
Stop accelerating and start rotating
30x40x3.6cm,Acrylic on canvas,2025
- process
In Unit 2, I refined my working methodology to better align with my conceptual and painterly intentions. During Unit 1, my process typically involved compiling source materials in digital software such as Photoshop to create a preliminary sketch, which I would then reference during the painting process. While this method offered structural clarity, I found it inadvertently diminished the spontaneity and raw quality of painterly expression that I value.
For Unit 2, I intentionally eliminated the digital sketching phase. Instead, I began by carefully selecting source imagery that aligned with my thematic concerns, and then adapted their placement directly on the canvas, guided by the narrative structure and spatial dynamics I envisioned. This shift was not about relinquishing control but rather about deepening my engagement with the materiality of painting. Without the safety net of a digital blueprint, I was compelled to consider each brushstroke with greater deliberation—including how to strategically incorporate negative space.
Every visual element introduced onto the canvas was critically evaluated in terms of its narrative weight, compositional harmony, and painterly integrity. My aim was to preserve the sense of hyper-narrativity while also embracing the tactile and intuitive nature of painting. This approach required a slower, more thoughtful process, minimizing revisions and allowing for a more immediate and authentic visual language to emerge.
Materials and Drafts
The process of the work
CRITICAL REFLECTION
During the Unit 1 practice, I found that the appropriation and reconfiguration of visual materials were effectively executed. The narrative logic within the images, as well as the overall coherence and completion of the works, were satisfactory and aligned with my initial intentions.
In Unit 2, I began to realize the need to further refine the narrative structure. At the same time, I re-examined the contradictory qualities of the airbrush medium within my work. The airbrush offers a blurred, smooth texture that, in many ways, mimics the screen with remarkable efficiency—this very quality is what draws me to it. However, I also noticed that an excessive simulation of screen-like effects, combined with the use of masking tape to divide the image, unintentionally diminished the painterly qualities of the work. This led me to make specific improvements in Unit 2, focusing on restoring the painting’s material presence while enhancing its narrative depth.
For narrativity, I need to enhance the logic of hyper-narrative in the imagery— work can form different high-energy complex narratives in people's minds. The selection of source imagery still adheres to the principle of using hyper- flow, simulacra visuals, which supports the core of my interest in post-narrativity. After engaging with a wide range of narrative-based comics, I realized that integrating compositional strategies from manga could enrich the narrative dimension of my paintings.
I was particularly inspired by the exaggerated two-dimensional narrative effects found in the latest generation of Japanese manga. I acquired and studied a large number of manga volumes and observed that even when flipping through a random volume—without prior context or understanding of the Japanese language—the visual storytelling remains accessible and emotionally compelling. Characters often have various expressions，The special storyboard structure, dialogue boxes and exaggerated text make different scenes and different characters full of narrative meaning on the same page. In Unit 2, I drew extensively on these techniques to strengthen the narrative structure within my own visual language.
My practice primarily involves the study of new narratives, specifically through the flexible use of high-recognition, multi-functional screen simulacra images to construct an organic hyper-narrative machine.
Three clips from Japanese anime
In particular, the use of irregular, tilted, and variably sized panels functions as a primary narrative device. Occasionally, key visual elements are positioned as the topmost layer, cutting across all frames—this technique not only clarifies the narrative flow but also compels the viewer to read these elements as central protagonists. Dialogue boxes—whether strictly structured or intentionally irregular—often go unnoticed, yet they are vital to narrative cohesion. Through repeated experimentation, I discovered that even when these dialogue boxes contain no actual text, their visual presence alone significantly strengthens the narrative connections between figures and their surroundings.
In Unit 1, textual elements primarily served as conveyors of information. However, through my engagement with manga, I came to understand that text—when treated as pure imagery—can function as simulacra. This realization led me to introduce Japanese characters, which I do not understand, into my Unit 2 works. Alongside Chinese and English text, Japanese became one of the visual components of narrative construction.
In my Unit 2 projects, text operates as a narrative image: floating on top of imagery, embedded within dialogue boxes, hyper-legible or deliberately obscured, and in the form of onomatopoeia rendered across layers. These textual elements function differently depending on the viewer’s cultural background. By stripping them of their conventional role in communication, I repositioned them as tools of narrative induction. Thus, in Unit 2, I refined my use of panels, dialogue boxes, text, and visual layering—drawing directly from manga’s formal strategies—to construct a more complex and culturally fluid narrative structure.
In terms of painterliness, my approach evolved significantly under the influence of a new generation of airbrush artists, particularly Tayler Anton White and Bondoso Bandido. Although their visual languages differ greatly, both artists stand out for their unconventional use of the airbrush. While most airbrush practitioners tend to employ the tool as a means of simulating screen-based aesthetics, these two artists treat the airbrush more like a direct painting instrument. When used in this immediate and expressive manner, the airbrush produces a strange yet pure painterly quality—one that I found deeply compelling and sought to incorporate into my own practice.
Inspired by their methods, I revised how I integrated the airbrush into my work, favoring spontaneity and gestural application over controlled, screen-like gradients. Additionally, I made deliberate painterly adjustments to most visual elements and panel borders within the composition. Instead of relying on tools like masking tape to create sharp, mechanical edges, I opted for a more direct, hand-painted approach to frame division. This eliminated the presence of clean, rigid lines and allowed for a more expressive, tactile visual language.
Furthermore, I employed both gestural line work and airbrush techniques in the depiction of characters, enhancing the painterly dimension of the overall image. This shift introduced a new layer of material immediacy and visual intensity, elevating the expressive quality of the work beyond earlier iterations.
Bondoso Bandido’s works
Tayler Anton White’s works
I would like to analyze my final work in Unit 2, titled ‘As Long As I Can Get There’. This piece was developed through an extended process of theoretical exploration and material experimentation. It represents a culmination of the ideas I had been testing throughout the unit.
In this work, I meticulously treated the edges of every panel with painterly attention. Unlike mechanically rendered borders, each frame edge appears deliberately uneven, tilted, or fragmented to varying degrees—emphasizing the hand-made quality of the composition. The seemingly arbitrary placement of dialogue boxes also plays a key role in the visual structure, subtly segmenting the image and reinforcing compositional rhythm. The combination of image-based symbols and textual elements within these boxes adds layers of narrative complexity, while their integration with surrounding figures maintains visual coherence across the piece.
Visually, the composition features three distinct focal elements: a meme-inspired background in the upper left corner, a stylized anime figure in the upper right, and a hyper-detailed hand rendered in the lower section. These three components, drawn in sharply contrasting styles, each embody a strong painterly presence. Their dissonance contributes to a deliberate sense of fragmentation, reinforcing the work’s conceptual tension.
Finally, layered over all visual components are some large, exaggerated onomatopoeic text—simulating Japanese characters. Rendered with expressive, visible brushstrokes, this element amplifies the narrative intensity of the work while simultaneously asserting its graphic materiality. I see this piece as a pivotal stage in my practice—one that merges a heightened sense of painterliness with the logic of a hyper-narrative machine. It stands as a major outcome of my Unit 2 investigations.
As long as I can get there
90x150x3.6cm,Acrylic on canvas,2025
In summary, my Unit 2 work reflects significant developments in both painterly expression and narrative construction. However, I acknowledge that my use of manga as a reference remains somewhat ambiguous in terms of its structural boundaries. The framework I adopted was not fully deconstructed; rather, it relied heavily on direct appropriation. Moving forward, I aim to critically deconstruct a broader range of narrative-based media and draw inspiration from a wider spectrum of storytelling formats.
- Analysis and deconstruction of anime ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ clips
After reading a large number of manga, I conducted a critical analysis and structural deconstruction of selected fight scenes from Jujutsu Kaisen. Specifically, I focused on a sequence comprising pages P1 to P4.
In P1 and P2, which depict a combat sequence between two characters, we see an exaggerated use of perspective. In P1, multiple overlapping fists are drawn to simulate rapid exchanges of punches. The slightly tilted panel divisions—top, middle, and bottom—along with dynamic speed lines in the background and large, expressive onomatopoeia overlaid across the composition, all contribute to a heightened sense of narrative intensity. P1 uses two close-ups of the upper body and one cropped detail shot, while P2 presents three full-body action shots. The differing directional linework across the panels, the varied angles of movement, and the shifts in character scale and perspective collectively enhance the visual tension of the fight scene.
In contrast, P3 and P4 transition into relatively static moments. P3 consists of two seemingly similar close-ups, with subtle differences in composition. The repeated close-up of a character’s eyes deepens the emotional and psychological narrative, conveying a shift in tone. The black, white, and grey balance in this page is also handled with precision.
P4 features four close-ups of different characters' facial expressions, followed by a single-panel concluding phrase or commentary. The presence of multiple dialogue boxes intensifies the narrative content, while the direction of the background shadows subtly suggests the spatial positioning of the figures.
Importantly, even for a viewer unfamiliar with the manga’s storyline or the Japanese language, these four pages still communicate a clear narrative trajectory. The combination of character gestures, facial expressions, and panel structure effectively guides the viewer’s understanding. This ability of visual form and narrative devices to convey complex storytelling without reliance on language has been a crucial reference point for my own practice.
- Open studio
In May, I visited Walk the House, a solo exhibition by Korean artist Do Ho Suh at Tate Modern in London. Entering the space felt like stepping into a “house of memory” delicately constructed from translucent fabric. Every threshold, light switch, and architectural detail was ghostly recreated in lightweight polyester, evoking a sense of spatial dislocation—simultaneously rooted in the familiarity of a former home and suspended within the present moment of the gallery. This duality reflects the tension between home and mobility, belonging and loss.
One of the central installations—a vividly colored “ideal home” composed of wireframes and fine mesh—traced the architectural contours of Suh’s residences across six different cities. While these structures held a poetic precision, their highly systematized and schematic presentation also introduced a certain coldness. This emotional distance was amplified by the contrast between the tactile softness of the materials and the detached formalism of the forms.
Suh’s three-dimensional rubbing works also left a lasting impression. They inspired me to reconsider the potential of traditional materials by highlighting how surface impressions can redefine the material identity of everyday objects. Through these works, memory and identity are not simply represented but physically embedded into the surface, allowing viewers to feel a sense of shared emotional resonance.
Walk the House exhibition site
- Open studio
In April, I visited the open‐studio event and a small group exhibition organized by The Koppel Project in London. As an artist collective housed in a converted townhouse, The Koppel Project provides studios for about twenty practitioners, creating a remarkably harmonious environment and vibrant creative atmosphere. Their studios are open daily from 8:00 AM to midnight, allowing for both early‐morning experimentation and late‐night collaboration.
Walking through the open studios, I was struck by the breadth of practices on display—from painting and sculpture to installation and video—each offering its own critical perspective. Engaging informally with fellow artists, I received invaluable, candid feedback and concrete suggestions that challenged and expanded my thinking. This immersion underscored how vital it is, here in London, to participate in an artist residency or collective: regular exposure to cross-disciplinary critique accelerates both technical refinement and conceptual growth.
Motivated by this experience, I plan to apply for an artist residency between June and July. I believe that becoming part of a studio community—where dialogue and critique are woven into daily practice—will be instrumental to the next phase of my art‐making. By situating my work alongside peers from diverse backgrounds, I aim to cultivate fresh insights, deepen my network, and ultimately enrich my creative