Chinese ink painting has a long and illustrious history stretching
back some 3000 years. Closely related to calligraphy it is an unforgiving
discipline. Painting on paper or silk once a brush stroke has been applied it
is there for all time, it cannot be erased or painted over. The beauty and the
rhythm of the painting come from the brush strokes as they depict the subject’s
qualities, both external and internal and identify the quality of an artist’s individual
style. Without a strict adherence to reality a compositional and conceptional
freedom is afforded the artist that allows expressions beyond themselves.
Artist, theoretician
and educator, Pan Gongkai is considered to be one of China’s modern
masters of the ancient medium's beautifully refined
simplicity. Following tradition
Gongkai completes each of his paintings in one session. For his 50 foot (15.2 meter)
long Withered Lotus Cast in Iron, currently on
show at Seattle’s Frye
Art Museum, it is a virtuoso performance by the artist alone in his
studio with its result being presented to an audience only upon completion.
As the Seattle Times
arts writer, Michael
Upchurch reported “Though we see no person appear
directly in his painting,” his (Gongkai’s) translator said, “all the expression
is about how a person feels.” The ultimate goal is for the artist to “melt”
into what he’s painting: “to have an integration of subject and object.”
The integrity of
Chinese ink painting is a subject close to Gongkai’s heart. His large-scale video installation, Melt, which was featured in the Chinese
pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale, explores the influence western art is
having on his beloved art form. Images
of withered Lotuses, taking from his paintings, are covered by snow, words from
the text of his book “On the Boundary of Western Modern Art.” As the
title suggests, whilst the snow may cover the flowers once melted it can
nourish them as well.
This dialogue between East and
West, the traditional and the contemporary informs Gongkai’s current practice. It’s
the production of work that reflects the
ideal values of a community rather than just a physical object of value that interests him.
Gongkai’s Exhibition at the Frye Art Museum is on show
until 18th of January.
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