“In the beginning…the earth was formless and empty…” a development of civilization is like Genesis; the nothingness accumulates and forms the creation we call civilization. It is the accumulation which gives human advancement, yet it also leaves behind things that are precious and essential. The accumulation is like the radiant colors on canvas, people often forget what it is like when the canvas is in its pure, original state.
There are certain artists who are looking for something pure and serene when the rest of the world is looking for something vibrant and colorful. They carefully unravel the complication of art and try to find its original state. Through the process of sedimentation, imagination, dissociation and reproduction, the temperament of the artworks are tranquil. They are like the universe at night, logical and simple, which the emptiness of nothing in the universe is full of enormous energy of somethingness.
These artists are like a catalyzer of reverse reaction. They are mathematicians, working day and night, trying to figure out the theory of truth; They are Bodhidharma, self-examining soberly and silently. When the world is hustle and bustle, crowds are coming and going, these artists, standing still, detaching themselves, try to retrace the origin of things. When the world is accumulated with colorful yet superficial facade, discovering the pure truth becomes essential.
By Teresa Dang, Mountain Art Beijing & Frank Lin Art Center. |