DWELLING IN THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS
This work takes the mountain forests of Santa Cruz, California, as its subject. I imagined how the landscape before me might appear if it had grown within China, translating a place from my present life through the visual language of traditional Chinese landscape painting.
Artist
Independent work
Chinese painting pigments, ink, brushes, and xuan paper
Chinese landscape painting
Viewers can click into the painting, zoom in or out, and drag the image to examine the brushwork, inscriptions, trees, rocks, pavilion, and water in detail.
Using brushwork, negative space, and shifting spatial perspectives associated with Chinese landscape painting, I reorganized the trees, rocks, and waterways of Santa Cruz into a mountain dwelling suspended between lived memory and Eastern imagination. The nature of a foreign place enters a traditional visual language, connecting the culture of my homeland with the life I inhabit now.
The original artwork has been sold and is held in a private collection in the United States. Copyright remains with Kaiwen Fan.
Process Documentation
STUDIO / 2025Process & iteration
03- 01
Observed and reimagined the mountain landscape of Santa Cruz through the conventions of Chinese landscape painting.
- 02
Built the composition gradually with mineral pigments and ink on xuan paper, balancing dense foliage with open space.
- 03
Completed the work with a handwritten seven-character poem and inscription.