Quantum Whisper

Artist’s Statement

This painting is a self-portrait set in the artist’s home in Suzhou. Within the painting, the artist conducts the classic double-slit experiment: when an observer is present, photons passing through two narrow slits produce two corresponding bright bands on a screen, revealing light’s particle-like nature. Without an observer, the same light passing through the same slits produces an interference pattern of alternating light and dark bands, revealing its wave-like nature.

In the painting, the artist is both the observer of the experiment and a figure surrounded by three “Schrödinger’s cats”: one dead, one alive, and a third suspended between life and death in a state of quantum superposition. Together, they evoke the paradox of being “both alive and dead” in quantum mechanics.

At its heart, the work explores quantum superposition and multiple realities: how might reality and illusion coexist within the same space and time? In the upper part of the painting, the artist’s late father and the son of his as-yet-unmarried daughter share a quiet moment at home. Though they have never met in the real world, they meet here in the painting, suggesting the overlapping echoes of time, memory, and multiple universes within the intimate space of a family.

Title: Quantum Whisper
Dimensions: 24 × 36 inches (60.86 × 91.44 cm)
Medium: Acrylic on linen
Year: 2024
Price: €18,980