4K (2022) captures a camera screen frozen mid-recording, displaying a chroma-key (green screen) composition. The viewer is positioned within the camera’s perspective, collapsing the boundary between observer and participant. This interplay raises questions about the mediation of reality through technology—how images are processed, manipulated, and ultimately perceived. Chroma keying, a technique widely used in film and digital media, allows for the seamless replacement of backgrounds, making the green surface both hyper-visible and entirely erasable. The painting’s saturated green hue highlights its potential to disappear, emphasizing the paradox of visibility and invisibility in digital manipulation. Meanwhile, the 4K recording indicator reflects the pursuit of ultra-high-definition clarity. By suspending the moment between recording and recorded, 4K explores ideas of representation and authenticity in an era where media is increasingly constructed. The work invites the viewer to consider how technology shapes perception—whether we are simply looking at an image or becoming absorbed into its frame.

Q: What is the significance of the visual language of green screen technology in this painting?

Tan Mu: This work is inspired by green screen technology, also known as chroma key compositing, a technique widely used in film, television, and video production to remove a specific color and replace it with another image. I am interested in how this technology mediates the relationship between recording and viewing. A green screen is not an image in itself, but a transitional surface that enables images to move between different visual systems. By isolating this visual language and translating it into painting, I reflect on how images are constructed, altered, and perceived across media.

The red dot in the painting functions as a symbol of recording. It references the small indicator commonly seen on cameras and recording devices, signaling that an image is actively being captured. Through this work, I explore how images shift from being tools for observation to becoming subjects of observation themselves, revealing the technical logic behind image production.

Q: You mentioned that the red dot symbolizes the recording state. Could you elaborate on this idea?

Tan Mu: The red dot usually indicates that a camera is actively recording, which carries an implicit psychological weight. It suggests surveillance, documentation, and the awareness of being seen. In this painting, the meaning of the red dot depends on its position within the visual field. When it appears inside the frame, the viewer may feel as though they are being observed rather than simply observing.

Green screen technology is typically used to capture and construct images of the external world. However, when this technology is painted and placed on canvas, it becomes the object being looked at. The viewer takes on the role of the observer, while the recording mechanism itself becomes visible. This reversal of roles is central to the work. It exposes the subtle power dynamics between seeing and being seen, recording and interpretation.

Q: Can you talk about the process of creating this painting?

Tan Mu: The process of creating this painting is closely related to my work Play, which also explores screen-based visual language. I was particularly interested in recreating the scan-line effect associated with early television and video displays. To achieve this, I applied multiple layers of green oil paint over a dark base, allowing the surface to build up density and texture.

Using horizontal brushstrokes, I swept across the canvas to create wave-like bands that mimic the refresh rate and scan lines of screen imagery. This method emphasizes the physicality of paint while referencing the immaterial nature of digital images. Through this process, I aim to translate the technical characteristics of screens into a tactile, painterly language, slowing down and materializing what is usually experienced as instantaneous and fleeting.