Lai Chiu-chen’s works carry a whiff of pop culture, but amidsthis cartoon and comic book ideas, there exist old-time themes of painting: simulation and representation. The artist’s creative state resembles what Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) described: there is a small fit of liberations coming out from between the popular trends and the out-of-date life philosophies of the artist. The images that resemble toy heads in his works would increase by themselves in the form of cultural signs. Considering the milieu in which they are created, Lai’s works could be considered an assemblage of samples or specimens from life. Through his highly “controlled” creative methodology, once stripped of its frail composition, flattened space and tactile sense of painting, we can find ourselves confronting the image itself and the nature of painting evenly concealed in the layers of paint in the center and the periphery of this tableau. Through these characteristics, the works present a smooth cooling sensation, profoundly rich in substantive variation. We can clearly see how he seeks variety out of monotones and in the mean time seeking alternative ways to paint within painting constraints.