The artist uses “Instant” to depict two nearly identical images: a piece of white paper placed flat at the boundary between light and shadow, on which is printed a quote from Goethe’s Faust — “Stay a while, you are so beautiful.” This is the most important key phrase in Faust, and at the same time, the deepest desire within the human heart — everyone has such a moment, wishing it could last forever. However, looking closely at these two paintings, one notices that the fly in the lower-left corner has already moved slightly, in the shortest possible span of time. Because of the limitations of the physical world, the thought of stopping time is, after all, nothing but a beautiful and unrealizable wish in our world.

The lines on the surface were originally just scratches on the table where the paper was placed. The artist emphasizes these marks, giving these originally insignificant lines the visual impact of radiating beams. The spatial structure and color variation of the paintings come from the artist’s interest in Josef Albers — Albers uses subtle color changes and variations in block size to create a powerful sense of space.