Asia Art Center

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Tobe Kan’s practice has long developed from everyday walks and observations of the urban periphery, focusing on plants that coexist with human environments yet often remain overlooked. She treats vegetation as a reflection of emotional and psychological states, exploring a sense of existential instability between reality and dream, intimacy and estrangement, growth and disappearance.

In Tangent / Rove, dense foliage, rocks, and water overlap to form an almost uninhabited landscape. A dark blue mass of vegetation stretches across the composition like a tide, creating a cool–warm tension with the pale orange sky in the distance. The faint silhouettes of palm trees resemble residual traces of memory, positioning the scene somewhere between conscious observation and dreamlike projection. Acrylic builds saturated, fluid layers of colour, while oil pastel introduces scratched, drawn, and trembling marks, giving the plants a bodily weight even as they continue to loosen and transform.

The title suggests two simultaneous movements: “tangent” evokes the shifting trajectories of time, light, and perception, while “rove” implies a state of wandering and hesitation. The white form floating near the centre—part bird, leaf, or reflection—acts as an ambiguous visual pivot, directing the gaze repeatedly between water and forest. Nature here is not a specific, identifiable place, but a psychological terrain carrying memory, solitude, and the unconscious.

The work was included in Inner and Outer Worlds: International Contemporary Paintings Exhibition, held at the Juming Museum from October 2025 to April 2026.