Illuminate(2022) depicts the first public demonstration of the light bulb, commemorating Thomas Edison’s most iconic invention—the first practical incandescent lamp. On New Year's Eve in 1879, Edison unveiled his groundbreaking invention at his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, marking a pivotal moment in the energy revolution and the dawn of the electrical age. When an electric current passes through the metal filament, it heats up to an intense temperature until it emits light, illuminating the darkness. Tan Mu’s work focuses on the portrayal of the light bulb, using subtle structural and color treatments to imbue the object with warmth and a sense of historical significance. In the painting, the light bulb is more than just a symbol of invention—it becomes a representation of energy, innovation, and the passage of time. It serves as a reminder that electric light not only brightened the night but also propelled human civilization forward, and its glow continues to illuminate our world, powering the future.

Q: Your work Illuminate (2022) is centered around Edison’s carbon filament light bulb. Could you share the inspiration behind this piece?

Tan Mu: The inspiration for this work comes from Thomas Edison’s carbon filament light bulb, first publicly demonstrated in 1879. This invention fundamentally transformed human life by making artificial light widely accessible. While painting this piece, I became deeply absorbed in the moment when the filament emits light. That process unexpectedly reminded me of cell division, a subject I had explored in earlier works.

Although the light bulb is entirely man made, the way light emerges from within it evoked associations with the origins of life. I began thinking about the first single cell, round in form, dividing and multiplying. This parallel between artificial illumination and biological genesis fascinated me. It created a conceptual bridge between technological invention and natural life, allowing the light bulb to become more than an object. It became a symbol of initiation, transformation, and emergence.

Q: How did you approach depicting the form of the light bulb and the concept of light in your work?

Tan Mu: In terms of composition, Illuminate shares a visual resonance with IVF (2020), a work that depicts artificial insemination in a laboratory setting. That painting focuses on a needle injecting into an egg, highlighting direct human intervention in the creation of life. While the light bulb is also a product of human engineering, it carries a similar sense of origin and activation.

Rather than portraying the bulb as an intense source of radiating light, I chose to paint it in a portrait like manner. I focused on its form, materiality, and internal structure. This approach shifts attention away from light as an abstract glow and toward the object itself, emphasizing the historical and conceptual weight of artificial illumination. The bulb becomes a subject with presence, rather than merely a functional device.

Q: You have spoken about the importance of light in painting. Could you elaborate on its role in this work?

Tan Mu: Light has always been central to painting. From divine illumination in religious imagery to natural sunlight, candlelight, and eventually artificial light, painters have consistently explored how light shapes perception and meaning. In Illuminate, I examine artificial light as a defining force of modern civilization.

The invention of electric light marked a major shift in human history. For the first time, humanity gained sustained control over illumination, extending productive time and reshaping daily life. My interest in light is inseparable from my broader interest in energy. This extends from the light bulb to solar farms, nuclear power, and speculative ideas like Dyson spheres. These works collectively trace how humanity seeks energy, controls it, and imagines its future through technological systems.

Q: Could you discuss the role of energy development within your broader artistic practice?

Tan Mu: My work often examines energy as a driving force behind technological development, computing power, and environmental transformation. As societies demand faster computation and more efficient systems, energy consumption increases accordingly. This escalation reshapes landscapes, infrastructures, and ecological balances on a global scale.

Through painting, I explore various forms of energy, including electricity, renewable sources such as solar and wind, nuclear power, and speculative cosmic structures. At the same time, my work subtly addresses the crises embedded within these systems, including environmental impact and questions of privacy and control. Energy is never neutral. It alters land, oceans, and even outer space.

In my practice, I use visual language to reflect on how energy systems influence our surroundings and shape possible futures. By documenting these forms, I hope to encourage reflection on the interconnectedness of energy, technology, and ecology, and to ask how progress might coexist with responsibility toward the planet.