Painting as an approach to explore immanent subjectivity in the digital age
Sitian Zeng is studying at The Glasgow School of Art
This practice-led project investigates how painting can rethink subjectivity in the digital age, where pervasive virtual information penetrates and shapes individual subjectivity. It argues that painting evokes ‘immanent subjectivity’ and uses Deleuze’s notion of ‘immanence’ as a philosophical foundation, implying how the virtual manifests itself in reality. ‘Immanent subjectivity’ exists in the unconscious, which is awaiting actualisation. This research regards painting as a way for audiences to glimpse this motif, as the artist’s reflection in the painting process may bring the virtual into the actual.
‘Entanglement’ Details 1, Sitian Zeng
In doing so, this project deploys Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizomatic theory to develop a painting approach characterised by spontaneity and fluidity, with the support of the montage method. I utilise digital graphics (3D models, screenshots, pixels, etc.) to paint, allowing each painting step to influence the next steps in a spontaneous way, reflecting on immanent subjectivity during each interruption. By transferring the digital image to physical painting, I consider it a reflection of the digital world, examining how humans exist from within. Meanwhile, I treat ‘multiple paintings’ as one rather than a series, emphasising the actualisation process. This project argues that revealed immanent subjectivity encompasses multiplicities, highlighting various states of the subject when encountering different external stimuli. 
‘Entanglement’, Details 2, Sitian Zeng
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Website: sitianzeng.com