The Proposal of New Painting Issue
Imagine when Confucius standing by riverside thousands of years ago, seeing the quietly flowing water, "thus things flow away day and night", he exclaimed. What Confucius meant is not only life, but also all the existing things including history and art. Seen from time's linear features, what passed is old, and what is about to happen is new. The problem on old and new would be simple and clear if that is the case. However, that's far from the truth. When old and new get tangled with complicated and changeable human art life, it becomes a mysterious scenery--the dimension of time recedes, and the life of art expands at its own dimension: what has passed is not necessarily "old", and what is about to happen is not necessarily "new".
On 19th, August, 1839, French painter Louis Jacques Mand Daguerre revealed his daguerreotype at the joint assembly of French Academy of Sciences and Academy of Fine Arts. From that day on, the traditional harmonious relation between image and painting had received challenge from photography. 16 years later (1855), World Expo in Paris provided specific exhibition space for photograph. Art critic Welch made a quite dogmatic remark: from now on, the philosophical enlightenment of painting will come from the progress of photography. Image collapse started from impressionism went fast, until the emergence of surrealism in 1925, when the visual authenticity of painting suffered fundamental challenges. This phenomenon attracted attention from two philosophers: the German Martin Heidegger believed the time of image diversion has come, and he even claimed that images would separate human from real world. The other German Walter Benjamin implied that the mechanical reproduction of image production will not only dissolve the originality and splendor of artwork, but also cause severe risks of legal imitation of the real world by painting.
Since the 1980s, Anti-Visual Illusion Movement led painting to complete conceptualization through modernism, and brought about serious doubts on the vitality of painting itself. Quite a few artists continued to seek for new experimental projects on painting in the western logics, yet in the new century, however, there are also many artists started to seek for possibility from the traditional repertoire.
On the relationship between contemporary art and tradition, we had the following statement when we answer that question from ARTINFO's journalist Coline Milliard: the spiritual relation between artists and tradition of China is like the growth of plants in a fundamental sense. If we compare the forests from the west and that of China, we would perceive the differences in both their appearances and feelings. The reason is simple: they enjoy different water, soil, air and sunshine. Therefore, different regions hold different sceneries. When you go to climb Huangshan Mountain, you would never compare it with the Alps. Though they are both mountains, their spirits differ. You can certainly tell the difference between a Chinese from Malaysia and a Chinese from mainland China, for they have different backgrounds, experiences and knowledge.
In fact, the so called "Chinese New Painting" apparently is not a problem of form or skill. On methodology, besides accepting the logics of conceptualism in eliminating essentialism, it put more emphasis on the complex links between Chinese artists and traditional Chinese culture, like what we did before--what pursued by the Pure Views Series Exhibitions(London, UK; San Francisco, US; Chengdu, China ): choosing the title "Pure Views" borrowed from an artwork by Song Dynasty(the Byzantine period in Medieval Europe) painter Xia Gui was to suggest a new trend: Chinese artists are starting to absorb essence from traditional culture resources to create their arts. In the past three decades, the use of Chinese history and traditional resources among many Chinese artists can be summarized as follow: western modernism inspired those artists of the 1980s; then western postmodernism inspired those artists in the 1990s; but in the late 1980s, traditional painting showed traces of coming back--New Literati Painting and Experimental Ink and Wash Painting developed side by side; in the first decade of the new millennium, we could accept this transitional period as a time marked by artists starting to recover their historical resources. Chinese artists are gradually finding useful resources in their own traditional civilization while understanding comprehensively the art resources of human; they combine these resources with their sense of contemporary society and produced unprecedented contemporary art.
Tradition is just Beginning
The river triggered Confucius thought never stopped running eastward and never run dry. It not only runs on the earth, but in our veins as well. This symbolic river represents tradition. "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away", General MacArthur said in his farewell speech on the honor award ceremony in the West Point Military Academy of United States after 52 years in the army. We may use other words here to express the similar meaning: traditions never die, they just fade away.To perceive historically, tradition is just beginning.
In the past, people were trapped into the theoretical mists of "tradition", however, if we have no way but to use the word "tradition", we should get to know it in the vivid historical reality.
In art field, Chen Duxiu publicly expressed his doubts on tradition for the first time. For him, the “Four Wangs of Early Qing Dynasty” as Chinese painting's guidebooks are traditions that should be abolished, because their landscape painting had nothing to do with western empiricism's science which was an important tool for rescuing China in that period. Then, realistic style related with science was encouraged. In that way, people could reproduce the social reality that eyes can see as well as the suffering and conflict. On behalf of some intellectuals, Chen Duxiu hoped to invigorate China with science and democracy. Before and after 1918, many young peoples went to Japan and Europe out of the enraged social atmosphere and the ambition to changing history. They soon learned the realistic painting methods, brought about a new world view and methodology for Chinese artists and audiences. Afterwards, tradition received more and more doubts along with harsher and harsher rupture sounds.
After 1949, painters were asked to make fundamental changes in both techniques and thoughts, especially in the latter aspect and they should discard the so called "old interests" related with tradition; painters have to study hard to master Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought. Many archives told us that no single one of the old painters who wish to inherit tradition had the condition or ability to persist in their work over the 30 years until 1978. They were either labeled as rightist or anti-revolutionists (such as Xu Yansun, Chen Banding and others), or as reactionary academic authority (such as Pan Tianshou). Some died in those political movements, while the others who survived lost their health for art creation and vitality in mind. In the early 1970s, their work were replaced by a new generation of functionalist painters (a group of younger painters such as Yang Zhiguang and Yang Lizhou), of whom the 'tradition" remains were totally vanished in the decade-long "Cultural Revolution" started in 1966.
December of 1978 was considered as the starting point of "thought emancipation". Since then, people were allowed to read western books that were forbidden before. However, as a result of impact and delay caused by the previous political movements, peoples born in the 1940s and 1950s have lost their valuable opportunity of receiving basic traditional education (they spent their years from childhood to senior high school in political movements and received education of workers and poor farmers in factories and countryside), that's why they lack an overall judgment on civilization. Rapid historical transformations made them could undertake free adventures simply because of a work of Satre or Sigmund Freud. Some of the elites began to believe that a bright future will be held in their hands with the introduction of western thoughts. They spent their whole energy in learning and digesting western knowledge under the circumstances of having no systematic knowledge of their own traditions. Until late 1980s, they devoted little time and rationality to their own tradition.
"New literati painting" phenomenon in 1989 was the earliest example of the attempt to resurge tradition. Nevertheless, just as what Zhu Xinjian recalled--the acceptance of tradition for that generation was on and off upon rare chances, for example Zhu Xinjian himself acquired knowledge on tradition merely from the visual accumulation of a fish drawn by Qi Baishi on a spittoon. Simply speaking, new literati painters were the earliest group of people who had the possibility of reviving traditions, even though they had limited knowledge and self-cultivation and were hampered by systems. Yet there are still peoples who despise the innate rationality of "new literati painting" out of the partial mists of "creative thoughts", and they regard experimental water ink as the newborn of tradition. Later, facts told us that experiment also ended in one decade. As a testimony of history, experimental water ink became the heritage told us that it is not the right way to go.
The instincts of life led to the emergence of a large number of young traditional Chinese painters. Peoples born in the 1980s could understand and accept the legacy of traditional spirits without being under any political restrictions; therefore they have a relatively cleaner inner space compared with their teachers’ generation. Young artists may not be able to continue the tradition, but they (peoples born in 1970s and 1980s) enjoy more possibilities of getting in touch with and recognizing tradition than their earlier generations. Looking at the works of artists born in late 1970s, it's easy for us to perceive that they have better nature and temperament in understanding and appreciating traditions than the so called college heads and authorities,
To come back to the origins of problems, 30 years of reform and opening up have provided us with comprehensive conditions: critique against culture autocracy, re-recognition for human civilization and general appeal for following tradition on the basis of general values. In recent years, we have felt the re-utilization on resources of tradition and reflection on traditional spirits from heart in the art field. The artists' work and spreading phenomenon mean the start of tradition we aspired. To view it from a broader perspective: tradition is indeed just beginning.
Re-start form tradition
Starting from 2010, the “Pure Views” series exhibitions began to respond to and lead the new atmosphere and characteristics of Chinese painting. Different from the impressions on Chinese contemporary art in earlier years, it's now easy for viewers to perceive the special traditional temperament in exhibited works, most of which portrayed nature, scenery and landscape, while the symbols representing politics and ideology almost disappeared, moreover, new features were revealed at various degrees. Those features implied artists' voluntary search of resources from traditional Chinese culture, though they adopted different angles and were made with different intentions.
“Pure Views” intensively represented Chinese contemporary painting that reflected and expressed with traditional civilization and temperament with western materials. There is a wide age range among the participated artists. The artists born from 1950s to 1980s showed differences in feeling, judgment and attitude while observing, understanding Chinese traditional civilizations. In fact, as Chinese artists, once they put attention and feeling to their own culture tradition and discover the mysteries, they would create new contemporary art. Indeed, the background for appreciating the spiritual connotations of traditional art has changed. Since 1978, given the full opportunity of understanding other civilizations, the Chinese artists have made contemporary experiments that can be written in our own art history combining western art practices. Like what we implied above, gradually, Chinese artists began to absorb different culture resources objectively and comprehensively, showing a tendency of bringing Chinese temperament back.
Here, we specifically stressed Chinese "temperament" presented by new paintings of China. 100 more years ago, émile Zola(1840—1902) used the word témperament (“气质”in Chinese) in his discussion about Edouard Manet's works. At that time, French viewers developed gradual interests for Japanese and oriental art. Apparently, academic terms could hardly outline the new paintings of Manet and Post-impressionist painters. Today, we can also find out that we can't use Cold War ideology or western Post-impressionism terms to describe Chinese New Paintings which has demonstrated new characteristics at various degrees that requires our comprehension and realization.
"气质" is a pure Chinese concept that you can hardly find a match word in western terms. It is closely related with personal character, cultivation, bearing, gift and free minds, and is also interacting with the essence of their overall quality. Zhang Zai from the Song Dynasty wrote in Ana (《语录钞》in Chinese) that " Temperament benefits greatly from the culture pursuing free changes ", which means that a person, a nation or a civilization could only build its own temperament through learning from tradition and absorb strength from tradition. Like the artist Mao Xuhui once said himself, "famous painter Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) from the Yuan Dynasty created the great work Water Village in 1302; I am deeply touched by it. Pingyuan Composition (a kind of mountain perspective among the three types), a form makes people feel limitless breadth, depth and upset." We can see the continuity of this special spirits of history in Wang Guangyi and Zhang Xiaogang's works. They always build critical analysis between yesterday and today. Wang Guangyi always treats problems with a transcending attitude, while Zhang said that he discovered the importance of time in influencing visual judgment and psychology. The title of Zhou Chunya's work is Imitate Xia Gui's Pure Views. Foreigners may not understand what "Imitate" means in China, which is respect and understanding. Zhou Chunya made a contemporary expression of traditional temperament by putting "peaches" he felt and created in Xia Gui's mountain landscape.
Contemporary art is undergoing changes: the once rampant ideological and political symbols are disappearing rapidly, while the new experiments using traditional symbols, images and different materials are prevalent, though the outline of new paintings may not seem to be clear with grand scene, yet its bloods are boiling, souls being built and temperament being formed. That process was similar to the scene described by an old man from Argentina: he dreamed of a vibrant and covert heart inside a human body without face and gender. It's fist sized and garnet. In 14 nights with bright moon, he dreamed of it with deep emotions. Every night, he perceives it even better. He never touches, but only to testify, perceive or rectify it with eyes. He perceives and senses it from various distances and at different angles. At the 14th night, he touched the pulmonary artery gently with forefinger, and then the whole heart from outside to inside. He was satisfied with the check result. At one night, he deliberately didn't dream: then he picked up that heart, and called the name of a planet, started to ponder over the size of another main organ. In less than one year, he came to skeleton and eyelids. Numerous hairs may be the most difficult part. He imitated a whole person, a youth…(Jorge Luis Borges' Illusion Collection)The only difference is that the "youth" of Chinese New Painting is not made from pipe dreams, but nourished with work and efforts (not dreams) along with artists and critics against the backdrop of knowledge and feeling of different civilizations.
Recently, we would continue to promote new paintings through solo and group exhibitions. The "Pure Views--The Story of Floating Cups" will soon be held in Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan. It also marks the beginning of a new round of Chinese New Paintings exhibitions. The theme of the exhibition is: re-start from tradition. In a broad sense, the proposition can be understood as although we have inherited a lot of stuff from tradition, we still need to go back to the core of it to make deeper and thorough understanding, and thus to receive more classic and permanent art life. In a narrow sense, the practice of pure view has also become tradition. Starting from it, Chinese New Paintings will make faster and freer steps. Early bird is lonely but can breathe the fresh air, the frosty wind in the morning warns people with pain:
Early Departure at Shang Mountain
Wen Tingyun
Getting up early disturbs the journeying bells,
The traveler grieves for leaving home.
Cocks crow, small inn and the moon.
Footprints, boards of bridge and the frost.
Leaves of Mongolian oak fall on the mountain paths,
Citron flowers brighten the walls of the post,
Thus reminded of the dream in Duling Tomb,
Where bobbing ducks filling the curving pool.
Where is the Starting of Floating Cups
In the late spring of the mid-4th century (353 A.D), a group of celebrities led by Wang Xizhi gathered at Lanting Pavilion on the Kuaiji Mountain, a resort south of the Yangtze River. That day fell upon 3rd March, besides the ancient water sacrifice ritual to cleanse body and heart, floating cups in the sinuous brook was the core. In Wang Xizhi's eyes, as wineglass containing wine arrives with winding water, the heaven and earth are already different in an instant:
Here are also clear streams and gurgling rapids, catching one's eye from the right and left. We group ourselves in order, sitting by the waterside, and drinking in succession from a cup floating down the curving stream; and although there is no music from string and wood-wind instruments, yet with alternate singing and drinking, we are well disposed to thoroughly enjoy a quiet intimate conversation. Today the sky is clear, the air is fresh and the kind breeze is mild. Truly enjoyable it is sit to watch the immense universe above and the myriad things below, traveling over the entire landscape with our eyes and allowing our sentiments to roam about at will, thus exhausting the pleasures of the eye and the ear.
However, what flowing stream in spring and good wine brought to peoples are not only joy, but also things worthy more deep thought than joy: peoples have close contact with each other and spend their lives in a flash. When people encounter joyful things, they will forget the soon coming aging. When they feel tired of what they acquired, things have changed and what they gained will become the past. Length of people’s life depends on the Creator and will finally come to an end. The later generations will look upon peoples today as we do upon our ancestors, while lives flourish or vanish in such cycling.
On the Shangsi Festival of 1659 years ago at Lanting Pavilion, these celebrities pushed the inborn tragic recognition of Chinese people towards universe, nature and life to an extreme. Such kind of grace and vigor of Wei and Jin Dynasties have astonishing attraction and appeal. Especially when we open Wang Xizhi’s unparalleled Lanting Pavilion Preface calligraphy scroll (in fact we could only see the imitation edition by Feng Chengsu of Tang Dynasty), time seems to be stopped at the very moment when we gaze at the fabulous vigor and mildness, poetic flavor and conception, winding stream and floating cup, heaven and earth, life and death…
We call the upcoming Chinese New Painting exhibitions the “floating cup stories”, which is a part of the “Pure Views” series; besides the homage for the collection of Lanting Pavilion, the deeper means is that: Chinese New Painting is now starting again from tradition. Therefore, “floating cup story” becomes a powerful and aesthetic classical symbol again---to live artistically, philosophically, intoxicatingly and fatally with grace and vigor like Wang Xizhi.
If the “Pure Views” series exhibitions are more the emphasis of Chinese temperament of Chinese New Painting, then, “floating story” takes how to express or contain the grace or vigor in Chinese traditional culture as its basic starting point. We represent Chinese Contemporary New Paintings with this and have already found out the subtle changes; except for the emphasis of subject and technique of Chinese New Painting, we pay more attention to the civilization foundation of Chinese New Painting, especially the inner willing expressed by artworks and classical strength of character bestowed by artists in the works. This easily reminds us of the following words of Chen Ziang, a famous poet of early Tang Dynasty: Chen Ziang said that the strength of character in Han and Wei dynasties had disappeared for 500 years till his age and he was really eager for the re-presentation of that energetic, modesty and charming aesthetics, it was dignified, rhythmic and compact with charming sense. (from Chen Ziang’s A Preface to Dongfang Zuoshi Qiu Xiu Zhu’s Article, Southern Song Dynasty); poet and scholar Hong Mai (1123-1202) also launched similar sigh, in the first section of his Man Jiang Hong, he wrote:
Chilly winds and cold rains, deep streams, almost overflowing, Long as it is, red and scattered clouds, a green piece from the mountain cave. Today when strolling about the shore, where could I seek the floating cup story? As it is, I see the river but no friends, so I lost on chip“where to see the floating cup story?” From pure view to floating cup story, what seemed to have changed are not only the scene. What we want to do is to open a new curtain for Chinese New Painting and the New Painting Drama that needs more time is already on the stage.
About 80 years ago, when Lu Xun made a preface for his novel collection Old Tales Retold, he wrote: I neither criticize “vulgar” and I’d like to be “vulgar”; as for historical novels, peoples regard them to be had referred widely to documentations and are based on evidence; even thought they are mocked to be “novels of professors”, they are quite difficult to be composed. However, those who fabricate articles freely from small starting points need little skills. Moreover, “only people who have experienced will know the true face of things”; in a vulgar word, it might be similar to “the one who is sick knows it the best”.
We have two layers of meanings to quote this paragraph of Lu Xu: one is the “New” wind blew by Lu Xun at that time in the novelist circles (referred widely to documentations and are based on evidence; fabricate articles freely from small starting points), which is still strongly inspiring if we adopt it for today’s painting circles; the second is that innovators must bear critique from all sides (just like the “Retold” are mocked by Wang Jingzhi, Cheng Fangwu and others as being “vulgar”), which is the price cost by experimenters and the motivation of innovators.
7th, March, 2012