THE INTANGIBLE REALM
by Sand Wan

The Intangible is a collection of photos of beautiful rocks off the northwest coast of Taiwan, which Wan took during his many trips over there and later modified through image editing. The textures and grains of the time-worn rocks appear hyper-real in the delicate light captured by his lens. But he wasn't satisfied. With image editing, he rebuilds the perspective and a sense of space around the objects, creating a wonderful balance between reality and aesthetics. The final result is both concrete and abstract, real and illusive, just as the great Chinese Painter Qi Baishi once said, "The subtlety lies between resemblance and non-resemblance."

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Somehow, Wan doesn't simply attain 'non-resemblance' for the sake of it. As we look back, both of his previous albums, Immortality and Finn Slough, are in the style of poetic realism. Strong photogenic sense and unique Schlieren method were applied to express the photographer's inner emotions, and the somewhat desolate textures convey a subtle grief. They are in the vein of Ansel Adams's and Edward Weston's highly detailed photography of still life and landscape, and also possess elements of Eugene Smith's humanistic empathy. Whereas, when it comes to the Intangible, Wan attempts a metamorphosis from the accumulated quantitative changes. He forgoes a photographer's obsession about realism and freely pursues the poetic aspiration in his heart---an intangible realm where there are no external scenes but the ones created in one's mind. By taking 'no way' as the way and conjuring up visions beyond the pictures, his work looks intangible yet concrete, illusive yet real. One is at ease where there are no bounds.