Xuran Guo

Lives and works in London, UK

Artist statement

I see myself as a storyteller through paint. My work weaves together two ways of seeing the world: one that seeks resonance between seemingly unrelated narratives, revealing how they echo each other through themes of "desire, attachment, and death"; the other rooted in bodily experience—where sensations and desires aren't abstract concepts but tangible impulses occurring within the flesh. I've always believed that we don't first possess pure consciousness then comprehend experience; rather, the body acts first, and experience slowly forms in the folds of sensation and memory. This is precisely why, facing the same world, our understanding and feelings can be drastically different—because we inhabit different bodies, carrying our individual histories. We can never completely reach "the other," and attempting to define another existence with one's own language inherently contains a kind of violence. My paintings are therefore merely limited facets of the world outlined through my body, my language, my memories; experience isn't truth that can be restored to its original form, but fragments constantly reorganized by language and recollection. It's within these cracks that the warmth carried by love, desire, and death seeps through. Methodologically, I often begin with "blind contour"—letting my hand follow the guidance of the subconscious with eyes closed. This action, contrary to my instinctive desire for control, creates unstable, trembling lines, also constituting the...

Artwork