2020.6.25 - 2020.9.29

In Nanfangao, there are people from all walks of life. Together, the locals and the visitors form the image of the town. To record the face of the town, Mu Ling drew portraits of fifty people she randomly met in Nanfangao.

To Mu Ling, every piece of paper is a unique opportunity to attain an ideal state of perfection that she seeks in her works. She may seem to let the crayon roam free on the paper, but in every single stroke and color lies self-critique at the highest standard; any hint of hesitation or reservation would call for starting over from scratch.

This is a highly disciplined practice. Once a piece of paper is let go, everything begins anew with the next stroke. With these lines free of the burdens of the past, she can attempt to convey the feelings and conditions that she seeks to the viewer. What we see are the randomness of creation, the serendipity of completion, and the result of the efforts to relax and erase the traces of said effort.

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