User:Chen Junyu/Graduation Project Seminar/ project proposal/1st

2ed

Metaphor and Nature There are two things of Chinese philosophy influence Chinese art on a fundamental level, one is the aspiration to "nature"( the ideal nature in Taoism also physically beautiful nature in the ancient time), and the usage of metaphor. There is a poetry describes the aspiration to nature by Tao Yuanming (365–427) from Eastern Jin Dynasty:

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)

" Here we have Taoism at its best." ( Fung, 1948）Taoism is one of the main philosophical genres from ancient China. "In these things there lies a deep meaning; Yet when we would express it, words suddenly fail us." It does express the most obvious differences between Chinese and Western philosophy. Thus the usage of metaphor in Taoism is quite common. Metaphor is so vague and unspoken. The widely appearance of metaphor in literature works of philosophy makes it so difficult to be understood the whole purpose, somehow it asks the reader to train their ability to think and feel, either for daily routine or the real truth of life and universe. I don't believe this "unspoken" feature is an expression of mysticism of Chinese philosophy, it is more like what Zen says, human language is not a proper tool to express the deep truth , and it can only be experienced by the deep heart. ［emphasis on how to live with yourself and nature -- gives room for reflection]]

Thus when we look at Chinese paintings, there is so much empty space in Chinese painting, whether landscape painting or still life. For example, Ma Yuan, one of my favorite painter activated in 12th century, he is famous for his special composition style “one corner” , in which he only places the subjects of the painting to one corner or one side, more or less leave the other parts empty. (pic 1, Facing the Moon, Ma Yuan)

Or another great painter Badashanren, who lived in 17th century, is famous by his minimalist image and technique with strong personal style to depict still life. He rarely follows the traditional principle of Chinese ink painting such as certain expression of branches or leaves, but we can still observe the similarity from his work and works by “ordinary painters”. The good control of the empty in a painting is always highly prized. (pic 2 , Lotus, Rocks and Water Fowls, Badashanren )

What is in the empty? Maybe it is better ask, why do painters leave so much empty in a painting? If we look at Western painting history, from the very beginning of Geek painting till Modernism, the canvas is usually carefully covered by paint.For Chinese painters, empty space on a canvas, if uses it properly, it would generate beautiful tempo, breath and imagination. Here we must notice another metaphor, the metaphor of the materials of ink painting. Also, the physical reason of the empty space on painting.

The origin of ink stick is the smoke from burning woods, and it experiences the multiple transformation of its modality -- it is first solidified to be powder then grinded in water to generate ink, when the ink drys on the paper, it becomes solid again. It is the life process of ink. Brush is just a tool to transmit the energy of the painter. Keep the arm always in a distance to the paper, thus we can train the control to brush and ourselves. Every breath would effect on the physical strength thus effects the usage of brush -- make it walk, ramble or run on the paper. Rice paper usually experienced more than one year to be mature, it is made by certain type of plants, after being boiled, dried, dissolved in water then dried to paper at the end. This kind of paper has very good water-absorbing quality.

(I don’t know if there is a important reason to choose mostly plants as the raw material—need to check it out later) .

How much information a viewer can get from a Chinese painting, it is not so relative to the knowledge of the art history, it is more about this ability to “feel” and “think” by her mind and heart.

The widely influence of Chinese philosophy on art is the reflect of the combination of philosophy and life itself.