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也许，人与人、人与自然万物的和谐共生，成为现代社会的一种追求；生活的“无为”与恬静淡泊，成为现代生活的另一种追求情境。在一个物欲横流、繁华喧闹的社会中，以“无为”为乐的哲学家们的理想生活，似乎更能达到一种终极价值与目的。作者在自己内心所营造的情境世界中，象那些舞动的精灵，自由地飞翔，自由地思考，自由地生活，体味着人及其存在的意义。
北京市朝阳区酒仙桥路2号798工厂 中二街 D09区 8502信箱
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Zeng Qingguo’s Solo Exhibition——Emotional Situation
Beijing New Age Gallery
2008.12.6 -12.31
Emotional Situation: On Zeng Qingguo’s Paintings
Xia Yun
Drawing inspiration from Chongqing, the city of mist in the remote Southwest, where Zeng Qingguo was born and spent his childhood, the artist, inherently sober and reserved, isolated from the worldly hubbub in the ivory tower of Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, live for most of the time by the philosophy of “going out of the secularity”, contemplation and reflection in seclusion, resulting in his unique sensitivity and enthusiasm, and, further, in his particular artistic temperament.
His paintings strike us such that we find ourselves immersed in an “emotional situation” the moment they meet our eyes. Wang Changling, a poet in Tang Dynasty, held that a poem has three realms, i.e., material realm, emotion realm and ideorealm, which three elements were combined into one term — artistic conception, by some poets in Song Dynasty. What I mean by “emotional situation” here is that in a painting the artist should build up atmosphere with his emotion and lend his emotion to what is painted. An artist can bring to life many free and varied inner worlds in a microcosmic perspective for the observation of the universe, a result of the interaction on these three levels.
His artistic style was formed in his diploma project that focused on “interior subjects”, which, as is known, works generally in combination with figures or still life (such as flowers) due to the limitation in its representation, thus for most of the time considered background to set off the principal figures or still life. Zeng Qingguo did choose interior subjects in his paintings, but he breaks the rule in conventional painting that interior subjects are nothing more than objects to delight the eye, which requires that he “blaze a new trail” and “be original”. “In the first half of my postgraduate study, I kept exploring in small paintings my own artistic style and ways of expression, and, at last, I chose to start with a new medium that is different from the traditional language in oil painting, so that I can set up my unique way of expression,” once he said.
In his paintings in 2004, such as Mortal Beings Series and Quietness Series, there are still traces of “interior subjects”, tables, chairs, beds, etc., but the space and atmosphere seem to be both familiar and strange — there is no wind, no human beings, or bright sunshine, but heavenly mysteriousness and stillness. Bathed in the soft light, everything is peacefully enjoying its share in life and standing aloof from worldly strife. The paintings are imbued with the artist’s respect and love of every mortal beings in nature, and therefore, the splendor of life emotion is embodied and magically projected into these objects — flowers blooming quietly and blissfully, flying insects wandering leisurely and communicate in harmony… As is shown in these two series, the artist was experiencing transforming from the stage of “interior subjects” to a more elevated “emotion realm”. “The interior house arrangement and the interior elements in 2004 were only the starting point of my creation, and the changes that followed are nothing but natural. There seems to be conflict and disharmony between the concrete images and the inner pursuits.” (Zeng Qingguo)
The seemingly familiar interior space and concrete images in his paintings in 2005 and 2006 began to unite with a quasi-virtual space, i.e., the space of soul. In his paintings, the frequently used screens, doors and windows with Chinese features are represented in a pattern characterized with more elevated images, so that the artist’s principle of artistic creation and cavalier perspective enable them to divide the changeable and mystic spaces in an organic and artful way. As to the space in a painting, Zeng Qingguo once said, “It has something to do with one’s psychological experience. Space is multiple and dislocated, and therefore, when spread or folded, the screen and the door fold the space in space, and therefore, space is both in and out of the space. It is related more to one’s perception.” The little flying insects of “lower form”, represented in the Chinese elaborate style, or leaving behind long and winding traces of life, or giving light splendors of life, seem to be agile and elegant elves, and in fact, they become the principal image on the tableau. Also, the loose, calm, moving and illogical light becomes a potential element. “Light is a kind of movement, vibration, and desire to penetrate.” Such is the painter’s comment on light. Similarly, the tableaus in which “color is applied according to the nature of the object (concrete images of interior space)” gradually took on “colors modulating with the artist’s state of mind”. Every painting is a realm of emotion based on mellow and noble unity of colors and still, dreamy ideorealm.
The image of screen, as well as the black square blocks in his paintings in 2007, particularly in his recent works (2008), combines more freely with his soul, thus rendering rich artistic patterns. More stress is thus put on his own feeling (or feeling as a human being). The black square blocks symbolize either doors and windows of the soul, or those that are impossible to put in words or that the painter deliberately hides. The painting corresponds to the state of mind. The imaginary and intangible serenity, the dancing elves, the light splendor, and the mysterious space purify and comfort man’s soul and share mortal beings’ emotions — there is unlimited space for imagination. “What does a man really need when he is independent from all materiality, interference and temptation from himself? No change is necessary if one’s inner world remains unchanged and the opposite is true,” once said the painter. Probably, only when one returns to his inner world that returns to nature, and follows nature, can life or art naturally enters a “realm of emotion”.
Such art of “emotional situation” derives to a large extent from his taste and the traditional cultural background. He used to be particularly interested in Freud, Jung and Schopenhauer, whose influence helped him to pursue his artistic activities in answer to his nature and his subconsciousness. Moreover, he likes traditional Chinese poems, calligraphy, painting and theories in this branch, and, in fact, he has kept on practicing calligraphy for more than ten years (such as big seal script, official script, cursive script, etc.). According to him, “living in China, there is definitely influence from Chinese humanity on our individual spiritual world. It belongs to collective unconsciousness. Whatever changes there will be, there are always some visible traces of Chinese tradition as long as it deals with the spiritual world.”
As is known, Traditional Chinese culture always upholds “respect toward nature and value of nature”. The ancient Chinese philosophers’ view of nature is reflected in the aesthetic experience of Chinese people, that is, to attribute human nature to everything in the universe (“While man is the leader of all the mortal beings, who, however, have their own souls and thus have human virtues”.) Man can communicate directly with nature, and is supposed to show empathy to nature. It is important to follow nature in life. Therefore, Chinese people always look for beauty and virtue directly in nature. “In artistic practice, everything is vested with empathy in order to nurture virtues.” Moreover, Chinese poets and philosophers never regard nature as place for man “to compete for power”, so, unlike the Western counterparts, Chinese culture stressed the power of nature, natural scenery or the vast magnitude of the universe ( like “the sublime” “magnificent” in Kant’s philosophy). What the Chinese highly value as natural and artistic beauty is “to show the maximum beauty with minimum material”, so that the spiritual world or inner world is depicted
more thoroughly. In Wei and Jin periods, it was hold that “the place to communicate with the soul is not in the distance, but in the woods and by the river in your sight, where there is a lot for reflection.” — to transplant feelings into the object, so that it is possible to “observe the greatest with the smallest in sight and see the ultimate truth in a single object”. It can probably explains why Zeng Qingguo, from a microcosmic perspective, chooses such “lower forms” of flying insects as the principal objects for his paintings and build his state of mind as his realm of artistic creation with such simple and void tableau. He once explained, “Each insect is a special object for reflection, and a world as well, with which communication is possible, but no language is capable of the task, or rather, language is unnecessary, for there is tacit understanding between the observer and the insects, and it is pure exchange on the psychological level.”
By skillfully taking advantage of the rich sources and artistic function of conception in traditional Chinese culture, the artist creates “a realm without me” and “one with me” for his pursuit of the unity of man and nature. The flying creature of “lower form” and the imaginary “inorganic” material generate close bond and an organic unity of life, implying that there is life in everything — a pantheistic belief, i.e., man can communicate with everything in the universe. They reflect our world, carry our ideas, project our emotions in the universe, which is mystic and colorful, infinite and active, capricious and unfathomable, but harmonious and unified.
Symbiosis of human beings, of human beings and nature, has become part of the common goal in modern world; “inaction” in life and “indifference to fame and wealth” is another principle to live by. In a world of vanity and fury, the philosophers who derive great pleasure from “inaction” seem to be more capable of reaching the ultimate value and goal. In the emotion realm, the artist, like the dancing creatures, hovering freely, contemplating, unconstrained, living his life independently, appreciating man and the value of his existence.
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