Tan Mu: I grew up by the seaside and our house is right by the ocean so if I think my childhood memory the sound of ocean like walk by the after school and all my childhood experience, the memory with family and friends all involve this ocean. When later on I went to school in Bejing I really felt disconnected. So every time I got the chance, I always wanted to see the blue.

Beneath the ocean, there are all these submarine cables transforming all the Information coming from the surface in real time. Right now, we’re able to talk and there’s no glitch, even no delay. That’s really fascinating to think about. It’s all connected through the ocean.

The cables really fascinated me because of the functional design made out of this contemporary material, it’s plastic. We use it to build everything. While that, visually the cable reminds me of cells, so that raises question about this Idea of a body, what is manmade and what is biological. I realized once again that I am part of this big body which in the end is like a machine and still always growing organically.

The ocean is like a mirror reflecting the sky. These two are always connected, and us humans live in between.

When I started looking at the cables, I was like, this is literally a web. We call the internet a web, but this right here is a real one, still there’s no way for people to see it. I started seeing it as a neural system transporting cultural collective memories in real time.

To connect and exchange we need to build up this infrastructure in very technical ways. While that, the eager to communicate is emotional, it’s about connecting and exchanging with the people we love. I think that’s very poetic already.

I don’t see myself as an US artist, not a Chinese artist, just an artist trying to observe. I feel more connected with myself when I’m in the depths of ocean, there is no differences in languages and the beeings. Even the whale or sharks feel like I’m a fish, part of them. I think that’s beautiful.

Being better, faster, stronger, that’s a driving force for humanity. Painting is a way to slow down. That’s also a reason why I use oil painting, this ancient method. I think it’s a statement for artists to work against this force to speed because when oil painting the time and effort is so easy to overlook. In the Signal Series, all the dots are hand-painted, it takes layer after layer. It’s really time consuming.

I am always drawn towards the unknown. Right now I am already planning a trip into an Antarctica or the North Pole for a glacier series, my next series. Glaciers are like an ancient freeze of time, they hold so much information and memory as well. That’s another big part of the oceans body, just a different organ.