Xujun Han
“If I woke up in a world at peace, my work might shift from longing to presence. Much of my painting emerges from tension—between memory and imagination, reality and utopia. I often create landscapes as psychological spaces shaped by uncertainty and desire. In a peaceful world, these spaces might feel less like distant dreams and more like places of belonging. For me, peace is not only a global condition but also an inner state—and painting is a way of searching for it.”
Xujun Han grew up in Beijing and was influenced equally by Eastern and Western cultures. The ethereal utopias described in the Chinese poem The Peach Blossom Spring, the Buddhist Paradise of the West, and the Biblical Garden of Eden have inspired her landscapes and their narrative dimensions. Exploring a harmonious interplay between the real and the ideal—rooted in both Eastern and Western cultural traditions—is at the core of her creative practice. In her work, Xujun Han explores the potential of space and texture, light and color, to compose both observational landscapes and fantastical environments. She employs a wide visual vocabulary of familiar natural elements—such as trees, mountains, and water—across both observational compositions and imagined spaces.
“Night talk around the fire,“ 2025, oil on canvas (80x100cm)