「生成主义 · 专访」艺术家劳大伦

LODTALAD's painting is based on his exploration of early virtual spaces and images. In an era of limited computer processing power, the polygon count of character digital models was very limited, and algorithms for lighting and movement were relatively simple. Their clumsy, cold, hard-edged appearance was a product of compromise. Today, this aesthetic is preserved as a nostalgic charm. As one of the earliest practitioners of digital aesthetics in China, LODTALAD adopts the strategy of "appropriation", translating these digital objects into paintings. Through fractured backgrounds and blurred "skins", he tries to reproduce the existence of digital entities. As his work progressed, LODTALAD realized that his work was not merely an imitation of effects, but rather a kind of "meta-painting" through this particular digital strategy. Most of his works are not large in scale, and the most common tools he uses are pencil and paper. The grain of the pencil becomes the basic material unit in LODTALAD's paintings. Making an even gradation of tones along hard edges involves the uniform accumulation or reduction of pencil grain.

In LODTALAD's work, contour lines form a closed structure around objects, creating an absolute separation between the object and its environment. Within this defined contour, objects emerge through interspersions, shading, volume, and gradation. As a result, a distinct duality is evident in LODTALAD's pieces: between subject and background, presence and absence, hardness, and softness. The original Mona Lisa demonstrates da Vinci's subtle "sfumato" technique, which blurs the contours of an object and evokes volume and space. LODTALAD intentionally incorporates this approach, presenting Mona Lisa with hard-edged outer contour, juxtaposed against inner contour lines that are full of detailed tonal variations, reminiscent of a loosely detailed internet meme. The geometric shapes and nuanced tonal shifts are precisely the most emblematic features of LODTALAD’s aesthetics. The established contour line in his compositions also constitutes the foundational structure of LODTALAD's work.

The enactive nature embodied in LODTALAD's paintings often appears as a kind of vague technical unconsciousness. Imagine the mysterious black square from Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. When we face a blank piece of paper and draw a contour line, this action is akin to creating a plane or geometric shape in 3D modeling software. LODTALAD's work is called "meta-painting" because it captures a sense of clumsiness and generalization, evoking a return to the moment when technology first appeared. It doesn’t create an illusion of perfect fits, but rather a rough intervention that doesn’t seamlessly integrate into our daily lives. It is only through this physical discomfort that the images can break away from a high-definition hallucinatory context and allow us to see their actual state of existence. We see not only the result of image creation but also the underlying logic and process. Only with this awareness can "image" and "painting" become distinct, creating a sense of time and embodiment. LODTALAD's paintings aren’t intended to produce images for a specific field, so the subject matter can be extended to include family portraits and natural scenery. His peony series exemplifies the enactive aspect of his work. These flowers are not a mere attempt at digitalization, but an exploration of space and orientation in painting, ultimately seeking to express emotion and vitality. Digital space provides the most economical excuse for this exploration.