User:Chen Junyu/Graduation Project Seminar/ project proposal/2ed

1st

I built my hut in a zone of human habitation,

Yet near me there sounds no noise of horse or coach,

Would you know how that is possible?

A heart that is distant creates a wilderness round it.

I pluck chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge,

Then gaze long at the distant summer hills.

The mountain air is fresh at the dusk of day;

The flying birds two by two return.

In these things there lies a deep meaning;

Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us. (Translated by Arthur Waley)

It is a poetry describes the aspiration to nature by Tao Yuanming (365–427) from Eastern Jin Dynasty. And there is more than that in this poem. The "more" here, is what I want to say through all my works. I kept thinking, language can never express the truth. It can linger around at the door of truth. However, since we started to use words to interpret ourselves, we already lost the key to the door. Language has the limitation of vacabulary, the potential pressure from environment, the influence by the other side of the conversation. That is why we need art. Poem is not just language, it breaks the structure of language, and talks the reflection of heart. The accuracy of the expression by art pieces, is oriented by our craft to medium and our honesty to heart. And I believe the precisely interpretation of the "truth" is existed.

I am not really care about the material, all of these try-outs are made for answering the final question. And I am not really care about the process, process is the thing whatever would happen some time. The process is the "right now". The value of an art work, at the moment of finishing, already lost the most important part. The process of doing, is the conversation between author and work. (concept in Drawing,quote later) Appreciating a painting is the process of scanning the painter's spiritual activity, and is rarely possible to get the fully meaning of a painting by a viewer. What the art piece looks like is not what the artist looks like, but it is what the artist's desire looks like. When the moment of finishing arrives, the conversation ends, only echo left on the blank canvas.

And "the echo" left on the canvas, is exactly what the poem says: In these things there lies a deep meaning; Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us. It is the meaning which we fail to convey by words.

It is also why Chinese philosophy never try to use clear sentences to describe and define the concept and thought that those philosophy wants to say. They always linger outside the door, since they know by words they can never open it. Students learn thoughts of their teacher, not just by speeches and conversation, is the personality and attitude to life transmits in daily life of the teacher.

2ed

Medium is important.