Yan Jheng-Hao: The Night Melts Across the Cheek: Solo Exhibition

People are drawn to light in darkness because it reveals the world-and, in doing so, allows us to emerge.

Night Melts on the Cheeks continues my previous explorations, using symbols and scenes around the figure as metaphors. The works navigate between the vast history of visual art and the shifting landscape of memory. Through painting, I approach emotional states that are difficult to articulate, capturing a world that feels intimate yet remains distant.

Moonlight casts many colors across the skin, revealing that bare skin is never truly bare. The recurring motif of the moon hints at the way the works are constructed: we see moonlight because the moon reflects sunlight. What appears under moonlight exists between direct illumination and reflected light. Similarly, the paintings emerge between the layered construction of pigment and the subtle removal or reduction of surface. What viewers perceive is a space refracted between the tangible canvas and latent imagination. The night landscapes that appear here may bring us closer to the truth of the soul.

"Walk to the end of the river, sit and watch the clouds rise." Rivers, for me, symbolize both narrative flow and the formation of land. Their rushing waters act as passages to spirit and imagination. Certain stories surface only at night-some continue from the previous evening, others branch like tides or streams, unfolding into layered, shifting landscapes. These narratives resemble one another, yet they cannot be traced along a single, linear path. Figures in the works chase, pause, converse, or remain alone, seeking temporary shelter within flowing time. Through this non-linear narrative, I construct an open, fluid inner landscape. The night's mysterious quality overlays these scenes, reflecting the complexity of self-exploration and emotional expression. These ambiguous and unstable states do not point to answers. Instead, they offer flexibility, allowing us to move forward even amid uncertainty.

Ultimately, night is not concealment, but permission. It allows unfinished stories to continue flowing, and feelings to explore the space between exposure and concealment. As our eyes adjust to darkness, light ceases to offer definite answers. It becomes a mode of seeing suspended between observation and resonance, reminding us that we are still within it-and still moving forward.