When Reality Begins to Resemble Fiction: Hui Chi Lee's Solo Exhibition "Fictional Reality" at Xi Yuan Art Museum

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Lin Yu-Chin, Art Director of Xi Yuan Museum of Art, stated that in recent years, the museum has consistently focused on the transformation of perceptual experiences in contemporary life and how technology, media, and social mechanisms reshape the way people understand the world. From "Becoming an Example"'s observations on institutions and self-governance, to "Traces to Be Continued"'s inquiry into time and memory, and "Blurred Landscapes"' reflection on images in the digital age, leading up to the current "Fictional Reality," the museum further directs its attention to the viewing conditions of the digital era.

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Lin Yu-Chin believes that as artificial intelligence, algorithms, and social media gradually become an inseparable part of daily life, the problem we face may no longer be merely information overload, but rather that perception itself is being reorganized. When viewing is accelerated, emotions are quantified, and experiences are transformed into exchangeable images, the distance between people and reality is subtly shifting.

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Against this backdrop, Lee Hui-Chi's work offers a mode of viewing that contrasts with instant responses. She reprocesses fast-flowing images with the slow rhythm of painting, bringing fleeting scenes back to the viewing space. This transforms viewing into a moment of pause, reflection, and a method for re-engaging with reality. Therefore, "Fictional Reality" is not merely a solo exhibition but also Xi Yuan Museum of Art's response to contemporary viewing conditions. Through the slowness, contemplation, and perceptual depth preserved in painting, the exhibition invites viewers to reconsider: in a world of constantly updating images, do we still possess the capacity to perceive reality?

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A Shift in Perspective: From "Meditations" to "Fictional Reality"

Following "Meditations," exhibited at Xi Yuan Museum of Art in 2024, Lee Hui-Chi continues to explore the relationship between viewing, perception, and time.

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"Meditations" focuses on the introspection and transformation of the individual's inner state during the pandemic. Through the creative process of sketching and repeated depiction, the artist regards viewing as a method of self-discovery, observing the subtle shifts in emotions, perceptions, and life experiences amidst slow and continuous effort. The symbols and imagery in the work consistently oscillate between clarity and ambiguity, maintaining meaning in a fluid, unfixed state. It is a journey of inward contemplation and a gradual sedimentation of time and existence.

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With "Fictional Reality," Lee Hui-Chi gradually shifts her gaze from the internal to the external world. If "Meditations" was an introspective journey of perception, then "Fictional Reality" is more like a reconstruction of viewing from the inside out. The artist begins to focus on the images, information, and viewing mechanisms prevalent in contemporary life, re-examining how they shape our understanding of the world. Everyday snippets from social media, advertising images, visual symbols produced by consumer culture, and constantly reposted and replicated visuals from the internet all become crucial subjects of observation for this body of work.

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Relearning How to See Between Fiction and Reality

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In recent years, from social media to artificial intelligence, from short videos to real-time information feeds, people are surrounded by a vast quantity of images every day. These images are not merely carriers of information; they are increasingly becoming crucial mediums through which we understand the world and ourselves. They shape our viewing rhythms, organize our emotions, and even influence how we perceive time and reality.

However, in this life highly dependent on images, we also begin to face another question: when images become ubiquitous, do we still retain the ability to truly see?

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In such a digital environment, problems often no longer stem from overt control, but from excessive self-exposure and endless self-production. People continuously output themselves in the flood of information, yet gradually lose the space for pause, hesitation, and disappearance. When everything is demanded to be instantly responded to, instantly updated, and instantly viewed, our relationship with reality also begins to grow increasingly tenuous.

Therefore, in Lee Hui-Chi's current works, "impermanence" and "eternity" are no longer opposing concepts but are juxtaposed within the same frame. Continuously flowing, blurred, and shifting brushstrokes intertwine with almost frozen and preserved image fragments; speed and slowness, dazzling visual stimuli and a nearly meditative state of stillness, all coexist within the canvas.

The artist continues her past focus on slowness, yet simultaneously incorporates the high-speed visual rhythms of social media, consumer culture, and digital images into her creations, resulting in a collision of two temporal senses within the artwork. In other words, the "fiction" in "Fictional Reality" is not merely a fantastical allegory, but rather a reinterpretation of contemporary reality. The world we inhabit is itself a perceptual environment composed of a vast array of images, media, and technologies, and those seemingly ordinary social media scenes, consumer images, and everyday fragments quietly shape the way we understand the world through repeated viewing.

As a Method for Re-experiencing Reality

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Lee Hui-Chi does not dwell on criticism. Instead, she attempts to reopen the gaps in viewing through painting.

Those blurred, delayed, lingering, and unstable images are not merely formal choices; they are more like a loosening of existing viewing habits. Images that were once quickly skimmed gradually settle after repeated depiction and reinterpretation; scenes originally belonging to the external world permeate inward through repeated viewing, becoming an ineffable yet truly existing sensation.

"Fictional Reality" perhaps isn't about distinguishing between truth and fiction, but rather attempts to point out that the two have long since overlapped to become our contemporary reality. Images from social media, consumer culture, and everyday viewing, seemingly fleeting and light, continuously shape the way we perceive the world. In Lee Hui-Chi's paintings, they are slowed down, re-examined, and given the possibility of lingering once more. When the pace slows down slightly, when familiar things begin to appear strange, those images that were once quickly scrolled past are no longer just information, but become a kind of feeling that has not yet fully settled. Thus, between fiction and reality, between viewing and lingering, those previously overlooked things slowly begin to grow their own contours.

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Exhibition Information

Chinese Exhibition Title｜"Fictional Reality" Lee Hui-Chi Solo Exhibition
Fictional Reality | Hui Chi Lee Solo Exhibition
Artist | Hui Chi Lee
Exhibition Dates | June 6, 2026 (Sat) – September 27, 2026 (Sun) (By appointment only / Open to the public on Saturdays only)
Exhibition Venue | Xi Yuan Art Museum (No. 57, Qingpu 9th St., Zhongli Dist., Taoyuan City)

Organizer | Xi Yuan Art Museum
Co-organizer | Servant Architecture Integration, Xi Yuan Life
Sponsor | Cai Xian Ren Bird's Nest

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