Meditations I., II., III.
2016-07-15 15:28:22来源：作者：LAOJIA
I think that it is very difficult to have a complete understanding of painting, usually apprehending and understanding painting through one's own perspective and experience.
I. How I View Painting
In the preface to my painting catalogue, I basically expressed my essential understanding of painting. Below is an excerpt:
"I believe that art should be in the service of life. Everything that is an obstacle to life (such as marijuana, and erotica) should be banned! However one cannot ordain the path of art, as every path has its own "scenery." For example, a fair maiden that has eaten her full is prone to melancholia (Lin Daiyu constantly is weeping and wailing, but of course if she had something to eat for one meal and didn't know where the next meal was coming from, perhaps she wouldn't have time to weep). Such sentimentalism has its own beauty. However, those artists who have experienced their share of hardship are perhaps stronger, but they are able to encourage the spirits of the weak. One cannot say that making a circus is not art, because it can bring people happiness."
"The human soul needs art. Art history is a history of the human soul's desire for 'out with the old and in with the new.' Out with the old and in with the new is the motivation behind human development, and is also the motivation behind art's renewal. No one can control what should be abandoned and what should be created. Duchamp's urinal hanging in the exhibition hall was exactly the spiritual provocation people desired! There is no basis behind the saying that people are born good or evil; all of man's good and evil comes from society, and is nurture not nature. Good culture makes people into people."
"History is like a person: sometimes he is serious and sometimes he is playful. Sometimes he does something good, and sometimes he makes mistakes. Sometimes he does everything he can to develop himself, and sometimes he does everything he can to destroy himself. So, it is not that every period in human history is correct. The development of art is also thus. Every person, just like in speck of sand in the desert of humanity, must tumble within the space of right and wrong. Also it is a bit of a joke, but the life of the universe is also thus."
"As an artist, the questions of how to understand oneself, understand the universe, and understand art will find their answer in one's work. Art should bring people happiness, strength, elevation of goodness and suppression of evil; it should be beneficial to life."
II. On Sincerity
As time passes, nearly everything changes, with sincerity as the only thing that is eternal.
Sincerity is different then honesty. Honesty is static, requiring only that you don't tell lies, whereas sincerity is dynamic, an behavior in search of the truth, a endless pursuit of the truth with no looking back.
On this earth, truth and lies always come hand in hand.
In an artist, sincerity manifests itself as a uncontrollable love of art. It is a passionate pursuit, an almost religious devotion, but is not religious faith, it is the noble quality of man in pursuit of truth. Faith and religion are the behavior of a certain group of people, with some of it approaching truth, and some of it being false, manipulative, oppressive, and against nature... Religion is sometimes just as passionate as the human pursuit for truth (such as self-immolation, and leaping from mountains) but its motivation and results are different.
The passionate pursuit of artists towards art expresses itself in many different ways: some people have hearts like ocean tides and yet have no appetite for food, appearing cold in appearance without any passion and romance; some appear as passionate as their hearts are, vigorous and dynamic, appearing just as a warrior; some are in heated fever one moment and cold another moment, such people are irresolute. There is another type of person in life, moving hither and thither, passionate and excited, with disheveled hair and dramatic expressions making audacious pronouncements. I don't consider such people artists, but rather simple rebels.
Looking back in history, the great masters were all extremely sincere! Their life's energy, blood, and flesh have created the history of painting.
It's not necessary to declare whether they were sincere or not, their work explains everything.
III. Silence and Beauty
"Stillness is beauty, movement is rash." If this refers to concrete content, form, plot, and even brushwork, then it is a surface understanding.
Stillness is beauty, but movement is also beauty. Plum branches in the moonlight, willow branches moving in the wind; water streaming from a kettle spout, reed branches by the Lake Tai, which one is beautiful and which one is not beautiful?
Stillness does not refer to the staticity of an image, but rather the frame of mind of the painter—he or she has stillness of heart. If one's spirit is rash, then one's painting is naturally not still—it is not that one's brushwork is unsteady, but rather because the heart of the painter is not still or not clean. Perhaps there is an eagerness for success within? A fawning and compromised heart? A search for adulation? Or yet going emptily through the motions?
A still heart, a clean heart, has a sense of Zen within it.
Only through stillness and cleanness can one attain full concentration, can one have great achievements, can one have great influence.
"Smart" people can move without being still, and lazy people are still without moving—both are not capable of doing great things.
IV. Symbols
Symbols are closely related with style.
Symbols are the result of the painter's long-term synthesis and condensation of the natural world. They are the materialization of the painter's spirit, being the strongest, most moving, most reflective aspect of the painter's personality condensed within a unique form. Symbols are the comprehensive reflection of a painter's life experience, artistic talent, cultivation, and even morality. Once formed, they can serve as an artist's unregistered patent. If other people borrow them or steal them, then it will be immediately noticed. This is what Qi Baishi meant when he said, "Those that study me attain life, those who resemble me are met with death."
The reason some symbols do not gain recognition and acceptance are because they are not beautiful, they are not representative.
Symbols are not without changes; along with the deepening of one's understanding, one finds new and more representatively beautiful form, and thus new symbols are born.
Painters that have not created symbols are not yet developed painters.
V. The World of Painting
The classification of painting is the work of historians and theorists, whereas painters can sow and reap at their will. It doesn't matter what painting it is, it's good as long as you like it. If you like it then others will surely like it.
However, as people say, the world is getting smaller and smaller, and the influence we have on one another is greater and greater. For the richness of the world, and the great color of humanity, it is undoubtedly meaningful to emphasize national characteristics and local consciousness. If everyone all around the entire world wore the same clothing, wouldn't that be boring and dull?
People now still can emphasize national characteristics, but perhaps with the passing of time, the borders between national groups will disappear. At that time, perhaps there will only be different types of painting and individual style. Perhaps even different types of painting will disappear, and there will only be differences in style.
Art belongs to all of humanity. For the beautiful future of humanity, it is necessary to emphasize differences, and not rashly try to make art into "one world, one dream."
VI. The "Wall"
Many holes have been broken in China's “wall” by imperialism's cannons since the 19th century. The wall of Chinese culture, and especially of Chinese painting, was criticized by our forefathers to be worth nothing at all. People nowadays are both demolishing and rebuilding the wall. Some time ago, the debate surrounding the wall made quite a splash, but I felt nevertheless that the wall still exists, regardless of being half-broken, although some still call for reconstruction of the wall. I believe that in this era where rockets have already traveled to outer space, that such a wall only has the purpose of being a relic, and cannot serve as any sort of defense.
History operates according to its own rules.
VII. Work
A little bit of newness has more value than a perfect old shell.
The work of an artist is called creation, the only path for an artist is that of creation. I agree with such a statement.