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TRANQUILITY COMES FROM MEDITATION-DEFORMED CHARACTERS

TRANQUILITY COMES FROM MEDITATION-DEFORMED CHARACTERS

measurements note
277 by 175.5 cm. 109 by 68 7/8 in.

Titleslip signed Wenda, entitled, and dated 1985

hanging scroll, ink on paper

EXHIBITED

China, Hubei all China Ink Painting Invitational, 1984
Shanxi, Xian Artists Gallery, Wneda Gu First Solo Exhibition, 1986
Hong Kong, Hanart Gallery, 1993

NOTE

Wenda Gu, a leader in the Chinese Contemporary ink movement, studied from Lu Yanshao at the Zhejiang Academy of Art (now China Academy of Art) during the 1980's. At that time, Gu was very interested in Ludwig Wittgenstein's philosophy that, "the written character is the visible manifestation of man's ability to reason."[1] In 1983, Gu began studying seal script, an archaic writing style understood only by Chinese linguists. The difficulties in reading became apparent for the artist, and he was inspired by the idea that unreadable characters provide an unlimited opening to various interpretations. In 1984, Gu created a series entitled Tranquility Comes from Meditation (or Pseudo-Characters Series: Contemplation of the World) while he was at the Zhejiang Academy of Art in Hangzhou. This innovative and dramatic series of five paintings marked a critical turning point in Gu's artistic career, as he then was named as a national "super wanderer" by critics in Chinese Contemporary ink painting. The series was first exhibited at the Hubei Chinese Neo-ink Painting Invitational exhibition in 1984, which was co-organized by the Beijing Chinese Painting Institute and the Hubei Art Union. The series narrates the birth of pseudo characters in the universe as the sequence starts from an empty landscape and the universe slowly evolves into various pseudo characters.

The work presented here is entitled "deformed characters", which is the fourth piece in this series. In this oeuvre, new pseudo characters are broken from "meditation and transcendence" into fragmented new characters which float in the universe. Each fragment still carries its original meaning, yet is reproduced with several other meanings through the viewers' own perceptions. For the last sequence, new characters emerge into a large fantastic incomplete character, or "nothing".

By deconstructing, misplacing, and combining articles to form new pseudo characters, Gu creates an uncertain world. Here he challenges the viewer and aims for them to reinterpret this new universe. He also empowers them to continue exploring the meaning of existing and new characters. Gu says: "I paint not to provide visual pleasure, but to tremble the soul."[2] Gu believes that art is based first on the visual experience, and then on the ability to move beyond the visual to "see" the spiritual figure contained within the image.[3] Gu's act of writing and painting provides the stage for his performance. In fact, the process of writing is the performance.

Reference:
[1]. Mark H.C. BESSIRE, David CATEFORIS, Minglu GAO, Jennifer WAY, Gan XU, Wenda Gu: Art from Middle Kingdom to Biological Millennium, Cambridge, The MIT Press, 2003, P.198.

[2]. ibid, p.xxx

[3]. ibid, p. 198. Gan Xu, "Neo-Hexagram: Early Work"