Oriental Series 東方系列

Oriental Series

Contemporary artistic language is no longer confined to the ideologies of its time. All aspects of humanity: history, sociology, science, philosophy and psychology, have become an inspiration for creativity.

Once, Chinese paper-cutting influenced Picasso and Matisse; Japanese pictorial space inspired Monet’s water-lilies and Van Gogh’s irises; Cy Twombly and Franz Kline found their calligraphic freedom in Eastern brushwork. Modernism turned to the cultures of the East for a wellspring of ideas. Yet do Chinese artists themselves still value their own ancestral heritage?

Traditional crafts such as paper-cutting and ink-rubbing are too often dismissed as mere folk techniques, relegated to the realm of regional subculture. I believe, however, that a culture reflects the evolution of a place and its people; when Chinese folk art is elevated to the realm of high art, these regional subcultures can be refined into something sublime.

The ‘elegant’ (雅) and the ‘common’ (俗) appear mutually exclusive, yet when these conflicting elements are integrated, works of art become all the more compelling. Aesthetics may be driven by an ideology, yet throughout history, across times and cultures, the most remarkable artists have always broken free from the mainstream canon.

東方系列

從藝術語言中表達出當代性的議題，藝術不再局限於時代的意識形態，各種議題包括歷史、社會學、科學、哲學、心理學，總而言之是凡是人文學科所關注的，都可成為創作靈感而被發掘。曾經，中國剪紙藝術影響了 Picasso和 Matisse ；日本意景啟發了印象派中Monet的荷花系列和Van Gogh；Cy Twombly, Franz Kline等則從東方書法中找到靈感……現代主義把東方文化拿下作為靈感泉源，而中國藝術家又有否珍視這些悠久流傳的本土文化呢？剪紙、托印這些工藝經常被大眾定格為中國通俗民間傳統而止於此也，但我認為文化象徵著一個地方和民族的修養，把中國民間藝術放到崇高藝術的格局下，這些地域次文化仍可經由藝術梳理而變得高雅。「雅」與「俗」看似對立而不相容，但把這兩種衝突的元素並置，反而會讓畫作變得更耐人尋味。美學經常被宏大的理念所推動，但古今中外出眾的藝術家的創作往往是偏離主流審美的。