Eyes
On the level of individual existence, the eye is the most concentrated locus of energy. It is both a channel of absorption and of release, and what truly determines this process is the “eye behind the eye.” The Eyes series extends the metaphorical logic of the Windows series, while also becoming my conscious reflection on the eye itself after being confronted with an overwhelming variety of visual experiences in a foreign cultural environment. Living in New York—a “museum of peoples”—observing and depicting the eyes of different individuals has been both fascinating and essential to me. It not only reflects the gaze from the outside, but also projects the fluctuations and convergences of my own emotions.
In all views, 2022, Installation Video
On the level of social existence, the eye more often signifies power and surveillance. Before the advent of the Internet, the expression “under the watchful eyes of all” carried the ideal of public scrutiny safeguarding justice: under collective attention, how could wrongdoing persist? Yet today, we live under the omnipresent gaze of high technology, where privacy has been almost entirely stripped away. This loss has not brought greater rationality; on the contrary, it has in many ways intensified human folly and violence. Information closure and emotional manipulation transform “the gaze” into a mechanism of high pressure, particularly effective in fueling ideological confrontation.
Eyes, 2022
In this series, the eye embodies both the desires and anxieties of the individual, and the countless “windows” symbolizing the vision of the Internet. Through layers of visible and invisible gazes—yours, mine, and theirs—emotions of strangeness and unease are magnified. They mirror the dual predicament of surveillance and emotional control in contemporary society. Within this visual tension, I seek to articulate the contemporary meaning of the eye: not only as an organ of perception, but as a theater where energy, power, and emotion are staged.
Curatorial Note
In the Eyes series, Loy Luo extends the metaphorical logic of the window into a deeper inquiry into seeing and being seen. The eye is no longer a mere organ of perception, but a locus of energy, mediation, and projection. Living in New York—a “museum of peoples”—she observes the eyes of others while reflecting her own emotional fluctuations through the act of looking.
Yet the gaze is never neutral. As Sartre argued, “hell is other people” begins with the gaze of the Other: under its scrutiny, the individual is objectified, reduced, even confronted with latent hostility. Luo’s works reveal this existential tension, visualizing the unease of being perpetually seen in contemporary life.
Through her canvases, the gazes of viewer and viewed intertwine—yours, mine, theirs—magnifying strangeness, unease, and tension. In this way, Luo transforms the eye into a theater of emotion, power, and contemporary visual existence.
