This project explores the idea of visual absence in relation to the notion of Chinese classical aesthetics of emptiness. The approaches is located in between representation and abstraction by combining the painting skills and expressions of Chinese Gong Bi [工笔] and Xie Yi [写意] with focuses on complementing visual clarity and obscurity. The aim of the research is to explore visual absence as a painting strategy in contemporary art practice, referring to the painting method of reduction, incompleteness and metaphor that extends the painting space and meaning through visual presence, thus unfurling an extended art form and creative strategy from Chinese classical aesthetics.

The outcome is a series of paintings as an exploration in extending the Chinese painting aesthetics. This project is constituted of 80% practice-based work, accompanied by 20% exegesis in approximately 11,600 words as a complement.