The tip of a plumtree branch

              TERRITORIES
They say tliai the poet and paiiiter Su
Tungp'o leí't the l'ollowiug poeni writteii
on the w all oí his host's lioine:
Biids sproiit í'roni my dry
intestines/moisteiied by wine/Aiid l'rom
mv liver and lungs grow bamboo and
rocks./They flourish with such life that
I cannot contain them/and so I write
tlieni yoiir wall. as whhe as snow.
This was in the llth-ceiitary,
wheii tlie niovenient known as Literate
Painting had reaclied its height within
the sonthern school oí (^liinese
painling. Su Tiuigp o — an hitellectual
and an aristocrat, as were niost of
schooFs members — often worked
while under the inlliiences oí wine and
tlie erotic dance of a feniale companion,
which accounts (at leasl in pan) íor the
peculiar ihythni of his
draughtsinaiishi]). Tiie resuh couhl be a
jioetically-charged painting, heavily
influenced bv caihgraphy. or a
"graphic" poein that might describe a
mental landscape, engendered by
sensitive individual experieiice aud free
front the restrictions of representation.
The use of úiebriation as the ideal
Creative state by some of the schooFs
leaders fornied part of a iargei'
conception of art as the capturing of
the spirituality of ihings. Tliis
spirituality (lid nol reside in ihe ihing
itself but ralher in its iinage, the image
as constructed bv the hiunan niind.
One of the basic principies of this type
of painting was that the concept
precedes the brush. This was whv Lin
Yutang used to say that to produce a
draw iiii; in China was notlnng more
tlian the writing of a concept, thus
alluding to two kev points within that
artistic tradition: the constant relation
between poetry and the visual arts,
between writing and painting, and the
image's freedom from external reality
The word is lyricism. According
to the Asian philosopiíer, it was
achieved as a residt of the two
revohilioiis ihal look place in f'liinese
arl in the 8lh ceutiu'v. The first was the
revolution against llic doinination of
the artistas lines over the objects
painted (thanks to the influence of
caihgraphy). The second was the revolt
against exact representation of material
reality, thanks to the influence of
l>oeli-v. Wliat is interesting is that l;)olh
n'\ iiliiiiiin- iicciirr(-d 12 i'cnturies
l.iefore they were to occm- in Eiu'ope,
and what is ironic is that after all this
time has passecL Chinese artists find
themselves yet again faced with the
responsibility of solving both dilemmas.
Henee are derived two of the
main paradoxes within the evolution of
Chinese art mito the present day. The
ai'l of (he feudal era would shame any
European avant-garde leader.
Nevertheloss, it was toward those
avantes-gardes that Chinese artists
ttnned in search of formal and
conceptual models that might allow
thern first to rejcct their own aeslhetic
tradition and later to i'ise in opposition
against social realisni. Yet in recent
years most of the paintings produced in
China that attempt to criticise and
renovare social realisni are works in
which realisni persists as a code to be
parodied within much more
imaginative, subjective and individual
styles of painting.
The imposition of Revolutionary
Realism (the ñame that Social Realisni
wore during the Mao Zedoug's period
of leadership) was accompanied by a
rejection of traditional Chinese
painting, which was at that time
characterised as elitist and retrograde.
This, however, was not a new
phenomenon in the history of Chinese
art. Even before 1911, the decline of
the empire liad been accompanied by a
loss of faith in national cultural models
and by a growiiig interest in the
paradigms of Western culture which
liad been penetrating Clhina forcefully
since tho 19th-century. sometimes by
-TW
C I N l tO AIIANIICOOÍ A
ineans of violence and hiiiniliation. In
art, ink and watercoloiir landscapes in
tlie ü'aditional style were replaced bv a
new generation's taste ior Iinpressionism
and Expressionism as well as Ior other
artistic styles.
Beneath Mao's government, these
tendencies were also considered
decadent, and the official criteria did nol:
change during Deng Xiaoping's
government despite an increased
receptivitv to Western advances in the
fields ol econoniics, science and
technologv. Deng Xiaoping's policies
seemed to be unaware that it is
inipossible to isolate a cultures spiritual
expression í'ront its material expression.
This is w hv tlie Chinese leader was so
surprised when, together with certain
economic models and certain
technological and Communications
advances, new wavs oí' tliinking also
infiltrated the country and were well
received within artistic and intelleclual
circles. In scarcely a decade this
movement would take Chinese art from
the restrictions of Social Realism to the
freedom of artistic options provided by
Western aesthetic models.
For Chinese art, the 80's seems to
have begun in 1979. In that year,
various exhibitions were held which
included both experiments with
traditional siibjects and techniques as
Ví'ell as works Cubist, lm]3ressioiiist and
Expressionist styles. These exhibitions
served as a bridge between the earlier
assimilation (essentially formal in
character) of the first European avantes-gardes
by Chinese artists during the first
republic and a more receiit conceptual
assimilation of post-modern art toward
^'hich the newer movements advanced.
After the exhibitions of 1979 {New
Spríng, Tivelve Artists and Stars). an
expanded series of shows foUowed in the
mid-80's. Known as the Artistic
Movement of 1985, it was made up of
young people dealing with Surrealism,
Dadaism and Pop Art. This movement
culminated with one of the most famous
exhibitions in the history of Chinese art:
China Avantgarde, held in 1989, five
montlis before the events in Tiananmen
Sc]tiare. Workiiig beneath the slogan
"No Return,"' a confluence in modern
Wang Jinsong, The Big Cltoiux no. 2. 1992.
Oil on canvas.
Chinese art was struck; at the same time
there was evidence of new aesthetic
positions derived from the assimilation
of postmodern trends. This show
included installations, performances,
happenings, photography, surrealist and
expressionist paintings and drawings as
well as experimentation with techniques
and materials. It attempted to bring
together the different developments of
the entire decade. Most of all, it served
to summarise the movement's utopian
spirit that tried, by acting within the
svstem, to change its rules.
Perhaps the failure of that tnopian
socialist art led to the change in attitude
¡n the 90"s. Newlv-emerging artists, and
even sorne from the previotis decade,
adopted a less ingenuous approach: they
no longer tried to act in such a direct
manner within the political context. The
Chinese critic Li Xianting characterises
the 80's movement as a group of
idealists who tried to créate a new
Chinese culttire with assistance from
Western culture, and he contrasts it with
the new styles of aesthetic parodv which
he calis "Cynical Reahsm."[2] Within
this cynical posture we can see the place
occupied by realist iconography and its
re-semantisation through appropriation
and ironic suprarealism.
This change in attitude reveáis a
peculiar situation in contemporary
Chinese art. In the 80''s, the dominant
type of art was one that approached
modern styles in order to exhibit them in
gestiires of protest that did not diverge
greatly from the marxist thesis of art's
social function. At the current time,
what is more prevalen! is art that
piu-sues the conceptual rather than the
stvlistic aspect of the Western
postmodern experience, thus revealing a
profound skepticisin toward the dogma
of artistic activitv's social ptirpose. It
inight be said that in the 80's there was
socialist art that rejected realism, which
has found a parallel in the 90's with the
development of realist art that rejects
so(;iologism. This new outlook is seen
most of all amofig painters who créate
work in which an interest in individual
psychological situations is predominant,
together with personal philosophical and
perceptual positions when confronting
the nature of reality.
New Chinese painting even shows
some evidence of a revival in traditional
pahitnig: for instance, Jianjun and Song
Cang. participants in the China
Avautgarde exliibition, or Ma Desheng, a
lounder of the group Stars, or even the
use of calligraphy in the work of the
IZf
\Áu Wei, Fii!/icr ii-dlclifs TI. 1901. Oil oii canvas.
well-known arfisT Cu Wonda. However,
the trxie measure oí tlie chaiiges in
aitistic irientality tliat liave occtirred iu
receiit vears lies in siiprarealist paiiitiiig.
Tliis is ligurative art, executed with a
niaximised attention lo detail and ¡n
niost cases niai'ked bv an allegorical
nalm'e, The niinietic dependence
Ijelween iniage and lefereiit is conipleted
by a breaking of llie link belween the
reíerent and conventional reality. Tiius a
dialogue is established between tiie
realisni of the representation and the
negation of its valué as iruih. And as in
the work of Magritle, each |.)ain(iiig
seenis lo be |)i-oclainiing 'Tliis is nol
whal it seems'.
Cei'tain fuiKkuHciilal
contradiclions of two generalions of
artists aro concenti'ated iu ihis art.
These are artists who were educated iu
the rnimelic visión and propagandistic
function of Social Realist art and who
now desire to escape ihe conceptiuil and
niorplioiogical liiuilalions iniposcd by
dogmatic cidtural regulations. It should
be kept in niind that most oí' these
artists were educated iu academies with
institutional uiodeis of representation.
An artist sucli as Yan Peu Ming,
ajthough lie has \\\cA iu Fi-ance í'or 15
years, continúes producing work
inarked bv bis visual experience of
Cliiiui. lie adniits ihal even in bis
curreul work tliere is a great debt to his
education in propagandistic art.
However, he is not one of the Cliinese
painters taking realism to its final
consequences. Ming's work is more
expressionist is style. using i)rusli work
ihal leaus lowai'd Iradilioual |)aiuliug
and cailigra|)hv. I siiig tliis as his
ineaus. he paints porlrails of luikuowu
lÍKures as well as of Mao. Whal is
interesting about these portraits is thal
they are executed iu an exlremely large
í'onnat, so thal boiu cióse-up one can
only make out l)lotciies of paiiit
composed in ai)stract ])laues. One inu.st
dislauce oneself b-oui ihc paiiuiíig in
order lo identifv the subject s
features.
Since the 80 s, Ming's work has
sigualled the breakdown of ihe realist
criteria which are .stiil official iu Ciiiua;
he is one of llie most iuiporlanl artists to
tlü so. Social realism slems from
preconceived. inflexible and uselesslv-idealist
ideas aboiu rcalil\ ou which the
arlistic image musí uiicrilicallv relv.
W lien not parodving these
represenl aliona I schemes, conlemporarv
Chiuese painlers use ihem to
demouslrale allernalive reahties that
luid uol been included iu official
plamüug. In the case of Yan Peu Ming,
I he tlissolulion of these concepts is
related lo the actual dissolmiou of ihc
features of ibe subjecls lie poilraxs. ihus
condilioniíig ideutificaliou mi
mechanisins of represeulatiou and
perception.
Tliis pciicliaul for placing the
subjecls' ideiitilies in crisis is foiuid in
conlemporarv Cliinese paiuliug through
different patlis. All lead lo the
aiionvmitx' of the persouages, the
banalisalion of official icons and the
acceplance of an enlirelv imaginai'v
sense of the absurd and the senseless.
/kuolher arlisl who has been
imporlanl since llie 80's is Fang Lijun.
The work is knowii foi- its personages,
all of them similar, thal (iis|)lay
ambiguoiis expressions and alienaled
alliludes. The repelilion of a shigle face
and a single gesture llirouglioul an
enlire group of people alindes (o llie loss
of individualily in a socielv lluil has
been excessively collectivised. The l'act
that in general the face being
representetl is quite similar lo the face of
the painter serves to reveal his interest
in rcferriu"- lo himself ihroush these
images. Fang Lijiin romposes his
paiiuiíigs bv working with photography,
whicli is a coiiiinon procedure aniong
yoiiiig Cliinese arlists. However, a
surrealisl atinospliere pi-pdmninales in
his work. ciiipliasiscd liolli isy the
presence ol the sul^jects in a dreani-like
space as well as Ijy tlie atlitudes and
acliial appcaraiice oí' liie subjects
po[|ia\ed. h seenis lliat the author
avails hiruseU' ol pliotographv iiol as a
guarantee of a Inie likeness lint i'ather
as a distancing eleinent hetwcen
pictorial representation and realitv. in
theii' hands. the phoiogfaphic iniage
beconics an ideal siibstitnte. an
iiitei-vention between realitv and
painting. Al'ter the expei'ienee of the
North American photo i-ealists. a
tendencv to coneentiate on problems of
representation in itself ratiu'r tlian in the
realitv being represenleil has Ijeen
common aniong painters wlio reproduce
froni |ihotographs. Inherenl in ihis
allituile is a coriception ol arl as an acl
laden with siibjeclivity. Inlike Social
Realism. w liich considered
representation as a way of legitiniising
realilx, Photo Realism presents il a
method of crilicising notions of a single
realitv. and even as a form of self-criticism.
Representation is no loiiger a
reproductive exercise; it has become an
interpretivp act.
Vil I long's mclliod of working
\\illi s|)alial references is complelely
abstracl and coii\cntional. In lilis way
the artist reinfoi'ces llic ¡dea lliat we are
faeiiig a repi-esentatioii and nol an
extensión of realitv'. i he conlrast
between those ideal spaces and llie
meticiiloiis irealinenl of llie human
figure is what lends the paintings iheii'
surrealisl qualiu. In a work siicli as
YoLing Pioneers (1990), the contrast is
accentuated by the foregroiind
placenient of grev figures whose faces
are in shadow, a iiew variation on the
dissohilion of identitv lliat we liave seen
in the work of Fang Lijim and Van Pen
Ming.
Meaiiwhile. Zhao Bandi tiirns to
the instant photogra|)li in order to
present scenes from personal worlds
utterly lacking in epic stature. Generally
f^iii Wei. The Neir (Iciicidlioii. 10<)1.
011 Olí caiivas.
in liis paintings títere are references to a
wa\ of lile or to an aspect of
contemporarv (Ihinese lile that is not
¡ncluded in official propaganda. These
scenes are capliired Iroin a pliolographic
poinl of \¡ew. from which Iwo
significant features of the work are
derived: llie inlrnsive scrutinv inlo an
¡miníale world. and llie fragnienled
represenlalion of lliai world. The final
resnit is an apparentlv banal \crsioii of
icahlv. wlucli is related lo a loss of
¡nleresl in llie e.\pl¡c¡lly-polil¡cispd
works of the 80 s. F\en \ ii 1 loiig. wlio
represenls collective scenes. has said lluil
what interests him are the relations -
between peo]jle bul which have no
relation to society.
Perhaps tliis also explains the
tendency to reinforce the pictorial nature
of the work. (^olour plavs an essential
role, whether creating almost theatrical
relauons between figure and groiind, or
creating symbolic spatial references, or
constituting an índex of the individuáis'
level of realíty and ídentity. Colour ís
also an important element for
reínforciiig the lyric character of new
(Jhinese painting. It ís clear that lliís ís
nol l\ ricisni aloiig the Unes of the
medieval stvle. The Cliinese arlist will
nol reliirn lo ihe role that Lin Vulang
described as "...a man at peace with
nature....whose spírit is deeply inimersed
¡n moiintains and rivers..." [.3], but
diere has been a revived imerest in
l)eautv, now based ín conlemporary
concepts. Much of cnrrent Cliinese
jiaínting dis]3lays a particular poetic
atlitude. A woman dancing al ihe
entrance to the Forliidden Calv with a
portrail of iVlao forming the background
ín a painting by Zhao Bantli. A sceiie of
naked adolescents in a painting bv Líu
Xíaodon. The pla\' of niirrors in a
beauty parlor. paínted by Lí Tíanyuan.
The paintings of Wang .[ínsong.
The work of tliis last painter is an
example of liow the intense e.xploralion
of realisl codes can be used lo place the
codes themselves in crisis: in other
words, il reveáis the wav that Chínese
Surrealísin is based on representatíonal
codes of the Social Realists. Thís is why
I have preferi'eil Ut speak of
Sii|)rareal¡sin. becaiise it deals with an
ampl¡f¡cal¡oii of f¡giiral¡oirs niimetíc
character imlil a flegree of absurdity is
reached. Wang .Üiisong combines thís
figiirative process wirli ironic intentions.
The absurd is much more sarcastic in
his work thaii in the paintings of Fang
Lijun, Yu Hong or Zhao Bandi. Drawing
on publicity, comics and store manikins
for his figurative models (just as was
once done by Pop Art), he succeeds in
imbuing his personages with an aura of
inhumanity, as if they were automaTons.
In a work sucli as The Great Chorus No.
2, the bringing together of ali those
smiiing figures summarises a world oí
false appearances and artificial conduct,
characterised by homogeneity. In this
painting as in others by the same artist,
we again find faceless individuáis or
characters represenled by nothing more
than silhouettes: it is as if, were they to
lose theii- discipliaed smiles, all traces of
thein would be erased. This artist stakes
out a specific art historical position. He
approaches it as if someone iniglil
approach an archive of formal codes,
and he employs them without
discriminating between Western and
Asian or between modern and
traditional. Thus his paintings are filled
with subtle references to the world of
painting as well as to the world of the
theatre. What is really happening is that
Wang Jinsong represents the world as if
it were a stage (similar to the methods of
advertising and propaganda art) but
without trying to conceal the theatrical
nature of the representation.
He does not try to suspend disbelief ñor
to impose it as real. Instead he is content
to reveal its irreality, and in so doing
criticises the stereotypical forrns of
realism.
With this cleansed subjectivity, the
new Chinase painting continúes to
provide a means for understanding its
own complex cultural context, where the
Fang Lijun, Water
Serie I. 199-t. Oil
on ranvas. Arlist
colleclion.
same contiadictions between traditional
valúes, capitalist modernisation and
socialist discipline and control are now
coming to a head. A painting by Liu Wei
eloquently displays this simultaneity of
cultural realities. The work, entitled
Fa/her walches the T.V. (1991), is a
portrait of the artist's father dressed in a
ntilitary uniform; with an ahnost
scornful, sideways look he watches a
telecast of the Beijing Opera on a
modern colour televisión. The uneasy
way in which the artist's father is
portrayed also reveáis the question of
generational confliets, a subject which
the painter addresses in other works
such as The NeiÁ! Generalioii (1991) in
which we are confrontad by two
deformed bables seated with tlieir backs
to a splendid portrait of Mao. The
children are painted in a style that falls
between realism and expressionism,
while the leader's portrait preserves all
the conventions of Social Realism,
including that of a background
landscape that has nothing to do
with the traditional concept of
landscape.
This has been the precise stylistic
evolution of Chinese painting; from the
search for a spiritual Hnk between man
and nature through pictorial gestures to
a reflection of the new society,
summarised in the figiu'e of the leader,
and from there onto the representation
of the individual in confrontation with
societv or preferablv with his own
existential conflict. The first stage of this
evohition is defíned in an example put
fortli bv Lin Yutang: "At tunes the
concentration in the object at hand is so
intense that only the tip of a plumtree
branch is shown in an entire painting,
and thus it comes out perfectly. [4].
Continuing with this sort of visual
synecdoche, what Social Realism did
was to substitine a portrait of Mao for
the tip of the plumtree branch.
While in some ways the new painting s
level of conceptual syiuhesis ap|)roaches
the Ivrical abstraction found iu
traditional landscape pairning, what is
clear is that artists now prefer to paint
the entire plumtree, adding a portrait of
Mao in the background whenever
possible. And thus it comes out
perfectly.
NOTES
[1] IJÍH Yulaiig. Mi Patria y mi Pueblo. Ed.
Sndaniericana. Bneno.s Aire.s. 1Q-t2.
[2] Li Xianling. "An íinrodnclidn Id llie
Ilistory of Modern Chinese Art".
Catalogue from the exliibition China
Arantgnrcle. Ila\i.s der Knllnren der Well,
Bei-lin, 1993. pp. 4-t-+9.
[3] Lin Yntang. op. cil. |). 34-t.
[4] Lili ^ niaiig, op. cit. p. 356.