The tranquility in contemporary gongbi painting is directly related to the vipassana atmosphere and the spiritual expression of people. Solving the contemporary problem of Gongbi from this perspective of new technology is not inevitable or unique. New materials or new technologies are also expanded for the sake of artistic spiritual expression.
As an artistic medium with a long history and cultural accumulation, the historical origin behind it is inextricably linked to the changes in the whole society.
Ding Qiao "Gnossienne No.1" 160.5x105.5cm Gong pen heavy color 2020
In the 1980s, Hong Kong and Taiwan were the first to bear the brunt of the impact of Western modern art and carried out the modern transformation of ink painting, which was more directly appropriating the style language in the history of Western art for ink experiments, as an extension of Chinese and Western use. China, on the other hand, has a long history of civilization and has a self-sufficient traditional system. How to explore and expand, its own unique language method, is very valuable.
Li Yuying "The Relativity of Life" silk color 119.6cmx220cm2020
The tradition of ink painting is an important component of the contemporary possibilities of Chinese to prove the possibility of indigenous and original national culture. Ink painting is not just a genre, but an independent cultural system. There is an independent system from medium, language to spiritual expression. Contemporary brush strokes are also within the ink system. The painting type and its medium attributes are flesh and blood, and since it is a medium, it is open and has a vivid vitality. The "personalization trend" of contemporary gongbi is also generated in an open environment. In an open environment, the independence of the individual will be stimulated and the cultural power of contemporary ink painting will be formed. Therefore, the value of contemporary gongbi painting also lies in whether innovation and deviation are eventually integrated into a tradition with great independence.
Wei Jiujie's "No Man's Land, Neon Light" 76cmx110cm silk coloring 2019
Gongbi is not only the expression of ink material language, how to use Gongbi such an independent painting system, contemporary artistic expression is the key. In such a powerful, independent system, the attributes of cultural identity are natural. In the face of fractured history and the changing ink tradition, how to find the context related to personal emotions and mentality in the tradition, and activate and evolve into an independent language of the individual, is also an important part of the artist's painstaking thinking and practice.
Therefore, when we talk about the issues of "boundary and order" today, it is more likely to face the reconstruction of images that appear in the works of post-80s and post-90s artists. This is also what every artist must face when facing the image of the "landscape society" today.
Wang Qingyuan "Backside #1" silk color 60cmx45cm2021
When images are transformed from traditional to contemporary, they are not rigid stitching, they are new. From the perspective of the cultural significance of the image itself and the social problems such as history and reality behind it, in the dual structure of the content and form of the work, the expansion of the visual form language of the work and the realistic problems pointed to by the content are the most touching places of art.
So what is the relationship with the artist, regardless of the medium, technology, language, etc.? Rather than language for language's sake, technology for technology's sake, medium for media's sake, I think maybe these are also the most direct problems in creation.
Bi Xiaohui,"FACE&BACK", 114x47cm, silk coloring, 2021
In the works of post-80s and post-90s contemporary gongbi artists, a metaphorical rhetoric is often used. For example, Bi Xiaohui's work "FACE & BACK" presents a state of indifference and anxiety that modern people collectively face with the almost gymnastic-like dynamics of the characters; Ding Qiao's work "Gnossienne No.1" transforms the clouds that often appear in traditional Chinese ink with the image of clouds in thick clumps, and when the abstract dotted surfaces are juxtaposed with the clouds, a new image of the contemporary literati spirit is formed; Or Wei Jiujie's work "No Man's Land, Neon Shallow", borrows the divine beast in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", metaphorically the nihilistic experience in contemporary life, a surreal mental state. These works, in the face of the transformation of traditional images and the structure of flat language, all make new constructions of images or languages in a personal way, and the appropriation of images is only one of them. When everyone is confronted with the problem of "new", they look at it from the perspective of history, real resources and personal experience.