中国观念摄影的主流有三：一是社会学与空间政治摄影，以庄辉、邵译农、蔡东东、曹斐、翁奋等为代表；二是情境诗学摄影，以邱志杰、蒋志、陈晓云等为代表；三是图像制作摄影，以王庆松、缪晓春、赵半狄、李小镜为代表。而如果陷入目前的当代摄影观看习惯中，青年艺术家潇潇的作品《合理的现实》则比较难以进入；在这种差异中，包含了新一代艺术家尚未完全展开的新方向，若要通览幽微要旨，则需要在新的感性中做出有力的观看断句。
首先，作者在画面中排除了政治符号与社会符号，让我们难以区分“何时”与“哪里”，甚至连其是否在中国都难以确定。由于没有明显的政治指向，所以不会生成政治情绪；亦由于没有鲜明的地域、历史等符号性元素，所以不会直接调动观众知识性的推理。在诗学上，画面也没有利用元素构造明显的张力，并非意在抒情。在制作上，这组摄影并未暴露数码后期痕迹或其他异质媒材的置入，其所凸显的并非图像层面或摄影术本身，而是被摄空间。
这些排除正引出了进入作品的恰当路径——对空间秩序本身的逐步体会。
作为摄影术的现象基础，光影关系在作品空间逻辑中的构成性作用必然需要细心读者的敏锐考察。
这组作品中的光可分为三部分：1.室外的天光；2.玻璃窗被外光穿透而在其表面形成的光晕；3.衍生入室内的光，包括对墙面及物体的照亮与光滑地面上的窗外投影。
作者通过对室外天光的捕捉，用弥漫的光辉遮蔽了天与云。室外景观有了近实远虚，远处的建筑完全被天光吞没；这种吞没并不是山水画般隐于清凉的云气，而是被耀眼的普照消融了。虽然是黑白摄影，但外光的温暖照耀鲜明可感，室外建筑并未形成强烈的明暗面之分，而只有原本颜色的深浅差异——一种全局性的暖光正在吞没室外的世界。
玻璃窗是室内与室外空间的分界,也是作品的视觉中心。玻璃窗并非完全透明，其质料与表面尘埃提供了散射与滤色的效应，这让其表面散发出荧光光晕，令窗外景色像电影被投射于那里。
当光从室外普照，再经过玻璃窗的散射与过滤，进入室内的光已经不再有全局性与暖度。整个室内空间气氛冷静而中立，外光与建筑内部的黑暗相博弈，通过明暗的分界与过渡生成了具有形式感的纵深。与室外景观对比，建筑内部结构凸显出强烈的体积感，并且几乎在所有平面上都生成了漂亮的明暗渐变。
作品中的阴影也有三种：1.向着观者身位后方延伸的建筑内部黑暗；2.室内物体的暗面与投影；3.窗框上的阴影。
作品的光源来自整个室外，而暗源来自建筑内部深处。摄影的稳定感来自观者与窗外景观距离的确定感，整个视觉秩序是一种会面的到达状态；而观者脚下至身后的黑暗则交代了来路——从悬空而闭锁的水泥盒子深处步入此刻。空间中光源的单一性，交代了这是闭锁之暗与普照之明的会面。
室内物体的暗面与投影，烘托出与室外景观完全异质的形体逻辑。外部由于被全局照亮，明暗交界线已经几乎完全消失，立体感的来源只有建筑本身的形状与条理，看起来如同覆在灯箱上的中国山水画或界画。而室内的形体则有清晰的明暗分界，如同西画造型的启蒙基础——几何体素描。
窗框上的阴影与室内其他形体不同，其自身被玻璃切断成内部两部分，细细观察可以看到其暴露在外光下的部分。而窗框同样切割了窗外的景观，令作品视觉中心断裂，无法一览外景全貌，把普照的外光平均划分于矩形之内，令人想起古典的油画画框或现代的多屏录像。
在分析了光与暗在视觉层面互相凸显的构造后，就可以体察设置背后的意味了。
室外的景色是理想的发达都市文明，高楼大厦，缺乏个性，民族性与装饰性已经被全面抹除，是20世纪电影中的未来世界想像。而作品中强烈的光照似乎并非来自太阳的自然之光，其要么是梦境之光，要么是来自弥赛亚降临的天界神圣之光，再要么就是核弹在远处爆炸的毁灭之光。
在基督教启示文化中，历史的终结便是世界经过最后审判，形成天堂与地狱的二分，天堂是永恒的光明与美好，地狱则是永恒的黑暗与恐怖。在基督教绘画中，从拜占庭到文艺复兴，再从浪漫主义到超现实主义，《最后的审判》及其它涉及天堂题材作品层出不穷，而可以察觉的一个趋势则是对天堂世界光感不断加强——从教堂的烛火之光到理性的自然之光，再到绝对崇高的永恒普照之光。萧潇作品中室外全局性的普照感，形成的是步入永恒静止的历史场景，窗口的视野令人无法抬头看见更高处天空的状况，而空无一人的景象打断了日常空间的历史涌动。作品的时间感已然脱离此世秩序，如果这景象有未来感，也不是不断发展的未来感，而是未来的历史终结之处。
而历史结束后，有永恒温暖的天堂，也有绝对绝望的地狱。作品图像中室内外光与暗、暖与冷的巨大差异，以及光源的单一，都构造出观者此岸的深渊性。建筑内部仿佛是没有出口的闭锁迷宫，灯光与电能也已经全部失效，在靠近观者一边的空间中，有的部分已经从明处渐变到了绝望性的可怖黑暗。而这黑暗所构成的深渊中也没有害人的妖魔鬼怪，而只有无限的建筑形体，绝对的坚硬并绝对的虚无，这种恐怖气氛是来自原子化的个体人性在工业未来中彻底的孤独与无出路。
在进入空间与光影秩序后，就可以发现作品中形式暗藏的隐喻。画面中朝向窗外的室内平面在形式上多是梯形，而很多窗框则类似被截取或颠倒的十字架。这一空间气场极类似基督教或其他宗教的祭坛（作品No.2正好没有十字型窗框，并带有一路向上的阶梯，这更类似阿兹特克文化中的祭坛），而被窗框所分割的室外末世风景，则明显来自油画成象秩序的始祖——祭坛画。
艺术家于作品中构置了现代人对历史终结的焦虑。普遍性的光照——如＂普世价值＂、科学万有理论、全面现代化——给了公共领域以理性或民主的永恒全局之光，而在私人领域与伦理领域，人却陷入了绝对的虚无并遭到体制性的规训压迫。作品视觉中心——窗——是公共领域与私人领域的界限，也是普遍性形而上学与有限性此在的界限。作者于此装置了一个质问历史终结的祭坛，让我们从巨大水泥建筑深处的隐隐不安中走来，与现代之光普照的终末世纪进行会面。
Conceptual photographyin China has three main branches: photography of sociological and spatialpolitical concept as exemplified by Zhuang Hui, Shao Yinong, Cai Dongdong, Cao Fei,Weng Fen; poetic photography as represented by Qiu Zhijie, Jiang Zhi, ChenXiaoyun; image-processing photography as renowned for Wang Qingsong, MiuXiaochun, Zhao Bandi, Li Xiaojing. It is difficult to understand young artistXiao Xiao’s work, Rational Reality,within the conventional scope of contemporary photography. The difference is aplatform showing a new yet not fully developed direction for artists of the newgeneration and to grab the theme and all subtleties asks audience to makepowerful interpretation with fresh perceptions.
First and foremost, theartist eliminates political and social symbols which make it impossible to tell“when” and “where” or even to figure out whether it is taken in China. Due tothere is no obvious political orientation, no political mood will be triggered.Also, since it excludes strong and sharp regional and historical symbols,audience will not be suggested to reason and interpret directly based on theirexisting knowledge. From the prospective of poetic, they are not lyrical picturesto express feelings and no tension is constructed with the combination of incompatibleelements. From the prospective of producing techniques, no digital retouchingmarks are left and no heterogeneous materials are inserted. The work highlightsthe space being shot, not purely the image itself or techniques of photography.
All these eliminationslead the audience to the right track to interpret the work and gradually feelthe spatial order it represents.
Light and shadow arethe basis of photography and their relationship plays a constructive role inthe spatial logic to which audience must pay an acute and careful observation.
Lights in this work canbe divided into three sections: outdoor sunlight, halos created when sunlightpiercing the window, sunlight entering inside including light on objects and reflectionsof outside view on the floor.
By taking advantage ofsunlight, the artist makes the sky and clouds disappear in pictures. Then, itforms a scenario with a clear short scene and a vague distant view. Buildings areswallowed by sunlight in a way not as mountains surrounded by thin cloudsdepicted in Chinese landscape paintings. On the contrary, these buildings aremelting in the dazzling universal light. Even though they are black-and-white photographs,audience can still feel the warmth of the sunlight. Besides, outside buildingshave no clear light and dark sides and the only visual difference is caused bythe difference of the original colors of the buildings. It is obvious that auniversal warm light is taking the outside world.
Windows, visual focusof the work, is the boundary of inside space and outside space. Those windowsare not utterly transparent and specific material and dusts on the surfacecreate a scattering and screening effect generating fluorescent halos on thesurface and making projection of outside view like movie scenes.
After coming throughthe windows, the sunlight becomes no more universal and less warm. The insidespace is cold and emotionless. Inside the sealed space, sunlight is battlingwith darkness. The boundary and transition between bright and dark generate adepth with a sense of form. Compared with outside view, inner structure isthree dimensional and there are gradual color changes from light to dark onevery plane.
Shadows in this seriesof work can be also divided into three parts: indoor darkness extending to theback of the audience, dark sides and shadows of inside objects, shadows onwindow frames.
In this series of work,light source comes from outside and dark source comes from inside. The sense ofstabilization of the picture comes from the certainty of the distance betweenaudience and outside view. The whole visual order is the completion of themeeting, and darkness behind audience or under their feet tells the incomingroad to approach here through the sealed concrete box hanging in the air. Thesingle source of light expresses that this is the meeting of the sealeddarkness with the all-around brightness.
Dark sides and shadowsof inside objects formed a total different logic of shapes. Due to theuniversal light, boundary between light and dark is vague outside. The threedimensional sense is delivered by lines and shapes of buildings, like Chineselandscape paintings or ruler paintings on light boxes. On the other hand,boundary between light and dark in the sealed space is clear, like the effectof geometric sketch, enlightenment foundation of western paintings.
Shape of shadows on windowframes is different from that of other objects. Shapes of shadows on windowframes are cut into indoors section and outdoors section. Audience can even detectwindow frames exposed under sunlight with thorough observation. On the otherhand, window frames also break the visual focus and cut the outside view in topieces. In addition, window frames divide the universal sunlight into equalrectangles which triggers the thought of the frames of classical oil paintingsand modern multi-screen recorders.
Audience can feel theimplied meaning after the analysis and deconstruction of the mutual visualimpacts of light and dark.
Outside view in thesepictures is the typical ideal future world of advanced urban civilization in the20 century’s movies. Skyscrapers with no personality. No nationality ordecorative features existing. It seems that the glaring light is not naturalsunlight, but comes from a dream, or sacred light from heaven when Messiah comesto earth, or destructive light from the remote nuclear explosion.
In Christian apocalypticculture, world ends after the final judge and “hell” and “heaven” come intoformation. “Heaven” represents the beautiful brightness; “hell” means theeternal and scary darkness. From Byzantine times to Renaissance period, from Romanticismto surrealism, Christian paintings have been fascinated about heaven, such as Last Judgment. One trend is that emphasison sacred light is increasing, from candle light in Churches, natural light ofrationality, to the eternal universal light with absolute sublimity. In Xiao Xiao’swork, the outside universal light forms a historical scene with ultimate stillness.Windows limit the scope of sight and audience cannot reach view above the sky.This deserted space stops the move of time and sense of time in this work hasjumped out of the current world. If it is of a sense of future, this future isnot an on-going one; it is where world meets its end.
After the worldending, there will be warm heaven and absolutely desperate hell. Profoundcontrast between light and dark, warm and cold. Single light source. They all deliver a message that audience on thisbank is in an abyss. The sealed space seems to be a labyrinth with no exits andwhose lighting and electricity systems are useless. This space is closer toaudience and part of it has turned into dreadful darkness. No vicious monstersor ghosts occupied this dark abyss. There are only shapes and shadows of enormousbuilding with absolute hardness and emptiness. It is the completed lonelinessand helpless of individuals in the industrial future that contributes this ghastlyand spooky atmosphere.
By interpreting logic orderbetween space, light and shadow, audience can decode the underlying metaphor. Shapesof planes facing windows are often trapezoids; window frames are like crossedor inverted crosses. Setting of the space is extremely similar to the altar in Christianityor other religions. In No. 2, there is no crossed window frames butall-the-way-up stairs which makes it the altar in Aztec civilization. Meanwhile,it is clear that outside view cut by frames comes from altarpieces, ancestor ofoil painting.
The artist implies theanxiety and concern of modern people towards the end of history. The universal lights,such as the universal value, theory of everything and comprehensivemodernization, entitles the public areas with rationality and democracy. However,when it comes to the private and ethic issues, people sinks into absolute emptyand suffers institutional pressure. Windows, visual focus of pictures, serve asthe boundary between public life and private life, between metaphysicaluniversal and existing limitation.In this space, the artist creates an altar to question the end of history,liberating people in this giant concrete forest from the worry and insecurityand arranging a meeting with the end of the history under the modern universallight.