Cantonale artists on their work – Luo Mingjun

I am still fascinated by time and the lightness of being. Drifting, waiting, fragments of memories – these are recurring themes in my life. I want the image to become a state of being, a kind of breathing in silence. Often, I don’t paint a specific object, but rather try to bring back sensations that time has only touched upon.

I have been living in Switzerland for many years. Its order, tranquillity and rationality stand in stark contrast to southern China, where I come from. This difference is both a limitation and a source of inspiration. It constantly reminds me that I am in a state of limbo – I don’t quite belong here, nor do I quite belong there. This state of being in between initially unsettled me, but it became the starting point for my work. I have learned to accept uncertainty and to maintain a certain fluidity between languages, cultures and emotions. Painting is the place where I shed this ambiguity.

I like the feeling of charcoal, pencil or chalk gliding across the paper. This unstable material resembles memory – blurred, but real.
And then there is the white in oil paint. For me, white is not a colour, but a breath: it can conceal or reveal, silence or breathe life into a picture. Black and white are not opposites; together they form my reflection on time and existence.

Luo Mingjun (born 1963, lives and works in Biel)