Meditation

by Lijiao Peng

This series of works explores the intersection of individual identity, multiculturalism, and historical memory. Through traditional oil painting techniques, classical portraits are combined with modern abstract symbols, showcasing the dialogue and coexistence between different cultural backgrounds and artistic styles, as well as the individual’s identity recognition and the inheritance of historical memory within a multicultural context. The figures in these works are painted with eyes closed or turned inward, serving as an entry point into a quieter register of experience. Rooted in a personal practice of meditation, the work draws on the felt sense of consciousness at rest: the moment when the boundary between self and surroundings softens, and awareness becomes its own subject. The recurring motif of the circle echoes this quality, self-containing and without fixed origin, tracing the shape of attention turned inward. The abstract concepts of time and space are incorporated, expressing static moments amidst the passage of time through changes in color and form, delving into the relationship between the eternal and the ephemeral, and the interweaving of multi-layered reality and the subconscious. Color functions atmospherically, with pale golds, soft pinks, and dissolving blues marking the temperature of an interior state, a consciousness that has gone quiet enough to simply be.