The tree in this composition angles obliquely upward, with its trunk and branches steady and firm, and its leaves and branches spreading layer upon layer, like an ancient form growing slowly from the depths of the earth. The overall tone is subdued and rich; ink tones gradually accumulate against the ochre-brown background, carrying the vastness and quiet accumulated through the passage of time. The forms of the trees in the painting are not derived from sketches of real mountain forests, but from natural landforms selected by the artist from satellite imagery that resemble the ancient tree forms in traditional Chinese painting.

Xu Zhen’s Shan Shui (Chinese landscape painting) series is not a simple depiction of mountains and rivers, but a way of rethinking the relationship between nature and technology within a global context. Employing a method of “data–form–atmosphere,” the series reintroduces a data-driven world into the system of Chinese painting. Its core proposition is to restore the flow and qi yun (spiritual resonance) of the image, transforming the mechanical gaze of maps into a vivid pictorial rhythm. Through composite perspectives of aerial and scattered views, the works recover a mode of seeing that invites both wandering and dwelling. By intersecting different technologies, the immediacy of pixels is counterbalanced by the slow emergence of ink. Ultimately, the series expands the concept of “mountain/water” into “terrain/force,” offering a Chinese pictorial entry point into the planetary scale of image culture.

In this sense, Shan Shui is both an artistic practice and a cultural experiment. It poses a fundamental question: in an era dominated by data, can we still sustain a subtle sensitivity to the operations of nature—and thereby to ourselves? The question extends beyond the canvas, pointing toward a renewed relationship between humanity and the world. Shan Shui tests whether the intrinsic methodology of Chinese painting can remain vital in the present—not through nostalgia for tradition or dependence on technology, but through methodological self-sufficiency, demonstrating that landscape painting still serves as an effective tool for perceiving and interpreting the world.