Reincarnation – Chinese Paintings with Mixed Media

By Allen Wong Soi Lon

Event Date: 10th January — 9th March, 2019

Keywords: Gear, Machinery, Inorganic Compound, Biomass

Chinese paintings are profound and in the artistic mood with the pursuit of spiritual space, maintaining balances through practices. As the transformation of four seasons and the repetition of nature, the method of imitating paintings is robust in the Qing Dynasty, especially the “Four Wong” (the four landscape painting representatives in Qing Dynasty whose family name are Wong) who were regarded as orthodox. Therefore, a group of artists that pursuit exquisite and concise appeared, they did not stick to the form and determined to reform, this realm was even extended to philosophy with the ideas of “Four monks” (four monks who were landscape painters in late Qing Dynasty with different pursuits from “Four Wong”). Shi Tao, a representative of “Four monks”, indicated that pens and ink are like poetry, which are getting worse with generations, and like boiling water, getting tasteless as time goes by, so why people still keep developing it? This allows us to relate to the philosophical paradox, the ship of Theseus. Thinking of the entire time sequence of Chinese painting which includes inheritance styles, imitating styles, as well as inheriting Chinese literary using different media, and even creating literary. There was a saying, no need to care about the fortune or timing, just do what you want to do. Adhere to extend the Eastern aesthetic tastes based on the predecessors’ philosophy, I can only work hard bravely.

 

Now let me try to interpret from another aspect:

  • TOPOS – Confluence between substances and non-substances
    Extracting the inertia and sporadic of traditional ink and convert them into a sequence of substance which dominated by neurons. The simulated substance of nature life, by converting inanimate elements into life forms.
  • CONCRETE – mechanic gears constitute a life form
    Using mechanical structure to stimulate the circulatory system of animals and plants Mechanical texture converting with pen ink

 

The memories of emotions are the source of energy, therefore based on the cause of natural life energy, focusing on the rhythm of the mechanical structure’s regulation; it leads me to explore the cycle of life. By combining the object with nature life but not the body, it turns out to be a machine which continually composing the melodies of life.