Monthly Archive for March, 2008
To Explore the Spiritual Root in Wild Weald
–A Talk among Guan Yuda, Luo Fei and He Libin
Keywords: Weald Wildness Regression Factors beyond civilization Observation with distance
In the talk, Guan Yuda thought that discussing art in Yunnan can’t go without the nature. Although there was some relationship between He Libin’s painting ‘Weald’ and the natural sceneries, this painting should be put in a even broader contemporary cultural vision, and He Libin is not a scenery painter. In Luo Fei’s view, the first time when modernism regressed to weald, what was got were vanity and desperation. Today if weald is going to be the subject again, either go back to modernism or create the classic for the second time. As far as He Libin is concerned, he thought painting was to solve the ultimate problem of human beings: ‘where to come and where to go’. Going back to the spiritual original weald was exactly the factors beyond civilization, which were more natural, distant and clearer solutions to many problems in today’s city life.
Nostalgia and Walking in the Field
——Preface of He Libin’s exhibition “A Traveler’s log”
Guan Yuda
It was from 2006, I think, He Libin has made some obvious changes in his art works. A lot of works have been painted in the theme of “field” and “wasteland”. They are mainly in the tone of black, white and gray, and have a wild style of drawing, presenting the feeling of sorrow and emotion, which could be found similar to the film of Tarkovsky, a master of cinema from former Soviet Union, and literature of Russian, such as the “light nostalgia” in the fiction of Иван Алексеевич Вунин. But in the same time, they also shows that he is a walker in the dark, angrily and impetuously, wandering around without reason and knowing nothing about the way back home. That is what “A traveler’s log” is.
They are a series of works, emotional and deep, which could be thought as the record of what the artist had experienced those years. Like how cardiogram works, they show the pulse, temperature and heartbeat of the artist when he was painting. Although the image, such as wasted field, felled forest, wild grasses, harvested farm, land, sky and mountain and so on, could be found in them, I still don’t think they are a series of landscapes. He refers to the definition of “landscape” in the modernism and paints many images of it in fact, moreover, the basic elements of the works are related to the “landscape”, however, what they have indicated are far beyond what is called landscape. If I have to use the concept of “landscape”, I would prefer to call it “big landscape” or “post landscape”, which expresses a will to be back to the harmony with the power of the original nature and the freedom of life. In the history of modern art, from Cezanne and impressionism, it was the weapon to help the artists to defend the “civilization” and “mechanization”.
The most typical representative of it is Gauguin, of course. He hated himself for belonging to the culture of Bourgeoisie and regarded himself as a self-consciously original people and the survival of romanticism. In order to break from the café and salon in Paris, which was the symbol of “civilization”, he escaped to the torrid Tahiti Island in the South Pacific.
The experience of traveling to the west part of China, west north Sichuan, Gansu, Xinjiang, Shanxi and inner Mongolia, in 1994-1995 maybe the reason why He Libin got the idea of the works. During a talk after it, he told me his motivation and said: “Many artists will in pursuit of the life itself in all kinds of ways. And I think I have to go back to the origin. The origin nature ranks higher than the humanized one, I should go inside and feel it.” He mentioned “back”, “origin” and “origin nature” here, which are similar to the intention of origin in forepart of modernism art and philosophical system developed by Chuang-tzu from China.
But, the question is if there is a way to be “back”? It is broken in the thought of western modernism. As a classic theme in modernism, “wasteland” was used by Thomas Stearns Eliot and Hermann Hesse, which was seemed as a prison and having no life existed. Their animadversion caused from the deep pain, disappoint and sorrow to the western civilization. Spring should be the time that everything grows up, but from Eliot’s point London, the symbol of modern, was a wasteland. In that dying world, people were dead although they were still alive, having only the feeling of desperation and flesh in their heart. The philistinism and contemptibility filled the world, and people were going to death ignorantly under the obituary dark cloudy sky. The reality was like the hell, and modern people were a group of soulless ghosts.
He Libin is living in Yunnan, which is a beautiful and peaceful place full of romantic atmosphere. The tradition of Naxi people in his blood also attaches him to the pure nature. So what he describes in his works should be different to the above. I think, given the personality, experience and the pursuit of culture of him, the opinion, that the essence is consistent with the nature from Daoism, might has made more impression to him. From Chuang-tzu’s point of view, the beauty of sky and land, the order of seasons and the vicissitude of everything are all made by the power of nature, which is the principal of the universe and affected by nothing. In front of it, people can’t do anything but to show their reverence. That is the reason why He Libin often arranges a people walking in the vast scenery, which is like the pattern of Chinese traditional landscape, such as the《Traveling amid Mountains and Streams》by Fan Kuan.
But this time, the traveler is not so easy and free compared with the ancient Chinese intellectual. On the contrary, he is a little bit anxious, worrying, sad and lonely. The conflict fills the works and makes it to present the feeling of sorrow and nostalgia which is not so severe. The feeling is not under control when walking in that kind of field. A poem said “life has no homeland, heart is the direction.” Being different to the fictitious Tahiti and tarnished Eden described by Gauguin, who insisted on getting on the way “back” last century in France, He Libin’s works are sad, emotional, romantic and sorrow, which is deep to the heart and like the wolves’ crying in the field. It recalls me that last autumn He Libin and I had some drink in a Naxi people’s village near La Shi Lake in Lijiang. It was a night with many stars on the sky, we were drunk, walked around and couldn’t find the way home, which is like the traveler, helpless but still being forward, in his paintings.
I suddenly feel it coincidental when my words come here. It seemed to be a real metaphor that, in fact, everyone including me is a “traveler”, we are all on the way “back home” through the field. We all want to go back “home”, but have not the direction, nor the answer.
Mar. 22, 2008 night
Kunming
Turn round is barren field - On He Libin’s “Wild Field” series painting
–about He Libin’s arts
written by Luo Fei
Contemporary art we discuss today in fact is a kind of art on metropolis. It points to the modern social system of metropolis in such aspects as theme, style, trend of thought, economic system and target audience. Although such an idea can’t embrace all contemporary art, we can find that such a tendency is influencing the interest of mainstream artistic circle and the creation of contemporary artists if we refer to the themes of international Biannual exhibitions held in recent years. Indeed, as a cultural incident, contemporary art has its cultural pertinence to survival in metropolis, has criticism and concerns and holds together the echoing in cultural psychology with the target group-city dwellers, organic experience and survival experiences. This kind of grand depiction on metropolis can’t provide a kind of foreseeable critical stand to the survival situation of contemporary people, for the depicter himself is also at a certain layer in the society. Sometimes, we just get the opposite to what we wish and have a kind of fawning, i.e. the coquettish art in late 1990s, today’s big face painting school, prevalent brutal youth diary style as well as auto finishing swept the sculpting circle. In order to reflect the blundering and flattering reality, artists decide to make themselves and their art even more blundering and seductive. Such criticism is just an ineffective solution.
Such beyond-metropolis themes as natural scenery are also occupied by various schools in the modernistic art movements. In result, few people are willing to face the nature, and scenic art has become a kind of concept. There’s only stale methodology, or scenery painting under naturalism. They only secure their stronghold conservatively in contemporary cultural art and have no relation with the survival situation and spiritual appealing of contemporary people.
Under such a historical environment that contemporary art is urbanized and non-metropolis scenery art becomes obsolete, people are unwilling to let go of, but willing to be apart from the term “land” and related glossary which was popular in China in the 1980s, but was regarded as foolish from the 1990s to the present. In-depth mode is completely got ride of in the tide of art marketization.
However, at present when the people are easily dissimilated by metropolis, fame and power, artists who are loyal to the realistic appealing in the deep of human nature retreat from metropolis. They return to nature and land to pursue time and space belonging to themselves, distance from metropolis and to consider the survival crisis of themselves as well as that of modern people and metropolis dwellers. We hereby branch out our expounding with He Libin’s recent oil painting “Wild Field” as an example to see how the artist faces his inner world and the current spiritual land.
He Libin engaged in oil painting creation originally. In the past 10 years, he mainly conducted conceptual schema experiences with upon-frame drawing comprehensive materials, pieced together Chinese traditional landscape schema with earth, nail and burned newspaper.Twisting newspaper into a bar and tessellating into calligraphy patterns are the representative work in this period in order to concern Chinese traditional view on nature and the situation of its schema. In late 2005, for his love of painting and captivation, he resumed upon-frame drawing. During this period, he has made a large amount of black and white oil painting sketches on rural and urban landscape. In the summer of 2007, he carried large-size painting frames to Tiger Leaping Gorge in order to paint in the face of the steep mountain cliff. We can see from this that He Libin has a special sentiment to painting and the great nature. He cares about the influence of the on-site feeling to painting, and a large amount of sketch work done in a short period of time also indicates great energy contained in the deep of his inner world.
He Libin began to create the “Wild Field” series of paintings in 2006. The “Wild Field” series I mentioned here cover three groups of works with “Wild Field” as the representative. The number of paintings in the other two groups is relatively small. One group is the “Sun Chasing”, based on the original version of “Kuafu Chasing of the Sun”, the famous myth story in the “Book of Mountains and Seas”. The other group is the “Extinguishing” of an unknown fire. As the two groups of pictures occur in the “Wild Field” and have consistency and continuation with it in methodology, style and spiritual appealing, they are embraced in the “Wild Field” series in expounding.
The scenery paintings constituted with black and white depict the trees, trails, wild fields, wild grass and reed in the wind, as well as wild field with boorish, concise and expressive style. Thick and unmixed paints are piled on the painting and special tactile feel is formed on the painting cloth. From the use of the painting brush, we can even see that the artist’s excitement at the time of painting and the brush is applied skillfully. We can even see He Libin’s pursuit of freshness in the picture and similarities in his way of painting to calligraphy in running script. “Wild Field” series have continued the visual experiences that He accumulated in comprehensive material experiment stage and the boundary between forms and structure is weakened by the mottled black and white relations, making the entire picture show an atmosphere of burning and imposing. What is interesting is that He Libin has pre-set different expression manners before making many paintings and challenges himself through the demand of scene and feeling. We can say that this series have no perfect methodology and pays more attention to the touch and creation obtained at the time of facing the landscape: some are depict of the landscape, some summarize the landscape in succinct style; some reflects the visional image in running; some presents the original tactile feel of land by piling up paints; some present the atmosphere of field with abrasive sand-alike picture tactile feel etc. Although different paintings have different expression ways, in terms of the overall style, “Wild Field” series have inherited the spiritual principle of expressionism: be loyal to the inner experience and spiritual state at the time of making the painting, and endow corresponding expression to the picture. The adoption of large amount of black and white and cool grey color has created a dream-like environment, just like the vanishing memory. Meanwhile, such a black and white picture has intensified the rational pursuit in the work. In contrast to the negligible standup and running people, such kind of “small figure and big landscape” makes people often associate the relations between people and nature in Chinese traditional landscape painting. In result, a straightforward view on nature and universe is presented. Different from traditional landscape schema, He Libin’s picture still adopts focus perspective, not disperse perspective, i.e. he enters the “wild field” in first person.
In “Kuafu Chasing the Sun” series, the first person perspective becomes very prominent, for the story comes from a literary allusion. The artist plays the role of Kuafu and goes to the fantastic and holy site of sun chasing in person. Staring at the dazzling sun in the field, what leaps before the eyes is the unevading sunlight—this is a fixed picture of the myth of “Kuafu Chasing the Sun”. As the first idealist in Chinese culture, Kuafu’s death has a strong tragical color and representative significance for sun chasing. Of course, people still have different views on Kuafu’s death and there are still many riddles. In the view of He Libin, “Kuafu chasing the sun” is not as insignificant as “a moth darting into a flame”. He firmly believes that there’s certain enlightment in the story. Therefore, he decided to go to the site for sun chasing, face the sun directly and press the pause button. According to Hegel, the realistic subject of primitive tragedy is deity. Deity here is not confined to deity under religious ideas, but divine ethic factors in the acts of some people in the world—i.e ideal. But there’s boundary between earth, ideal and paradise—chasing sun is not the same as being sun, which is the “boundary” that the God sets for idealism. The consequence for going beyond the boundary is death, which is the basic enlightenment from the myth of “Kuafu Chasing the Sun”.
In the eyes of He Libin, the purpose for painting is to solve questions of the human self, i.e. the ultimate question of “Where do I come from and where do I go to”. The person here is not a general concept, but an individual - or, he himself. In He’s eyes, we must go back to the wild field - the origin of spirit as there’s no modern civilization element there and people can cope with and solve many questions in urban life with a clearer mind from a distance. Out of this consideration, He Libin decided to step into the wild field alone to seek answer to the question in his mind.
Wild field ever was the barbarous land to exile the criminals. Later, it was made a classic image in modern literature. Both T. S Eliot’s lyric long poem “The Waste Land”, or Jame Joyce’s Ulysses are themed on the evil and declining of modern cities with the comparison of myth as the basic structure and the thinking of the fortune of the mankind as the basic topic. Why does mankind exist? What on earth shall be used as the value of mankind? It is rational or irrational, self explanation or belief? As modern industrial civilization and technology come from the soil of western rationalism, why there’s evil in the world? Why people are still sad, crying and bleeding? Shakespeare said: “The world is disordered and in chaos”. Such questions can’t be eradicated just like the flying dusts that Kuafu must face under the sunlight.
He Libin has entered a stretch of wild land overgrown with grass. It’s a place where no people govern for a long period of time, which is just the origin he expected. According to the Bible Genesis, the classic Judean work, the land when Adam & Eve stole taste the forbidden fruit is also a stretch of deserted land: “And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up” (“Bible” Genesis 2:5). Does this mean that before the occurrence of evil, this is a stretch of place of origin having no virtue and evil?(1)
He Libin entered the wild field - this stretch of place of origin, with first person perspective; he also gazed himself who was watching and contemplating in the picture as an outsider. I had such feelings after watching the “Wild Field” series for the first time.
When people retreat from various affairs, depart from the chaotic and busy world and go to an unpopulated land, the small-sized people no longer are animals having breath on the earth. When people face sun and land directly, they will re-obtain the thinking on eternity and truth. When people re-review their values, the physical body and will no longer are vulnerable to the temptation of the world. The heart of loners is as peaceful as stagnant water. The soul of loners is well settled. Loners just watch silently in the wild field. They just watch silently themselves, the world and the circumstances for people in the world. In this process, the mood and feeling of the loner will be well released to experience the unique realm of “integration between myself and the world. But, why shall an artist select to stay alone? I think the artist is a person who lives on the world but doesn’t belong to the world. He is the watcher of human soul.
According to the original intention of He Libin, the purpose for retreating from metropolis to the wild field for a period of time is to obtain the sense of distance from the world and inner peace, which I think is a field that foreseeable cognition may be obtained. Just as what Jesus spoke to the crowd about John The Baptist: “What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. (“Bible” Matthew 11:7-9). Here, the purpose for people to go to the field is to see and follow the prophet. At present when the Dao has retreated（大道隐没） and prophets are absent, silently watching and reflecting in the wild field may obtain a foreseeable cognition and critical stand. He Libin regarded himself as a skeptic and his skepticism directs at the rational utmost and progressive theory in the urbanization process after modern industrial revolution. This kind of doubt is really precious, just like what the German historian Jacob Christoph Burckhardt said: “the false skepticism is prevailing in some period… but the realistic skepticism is already insufficient.” The recent “Extinguishing” series are also based on such a spiritual clue. The raging fire on the wild field comes from an accident? Disaster? Rage? Abnormal phenomenon? Or absurdism?
He Libin’s retreating to the wild field is just a turning around in his eyes. He began his artistic career on wild field theme 14 years ago and now turns around to face the wild field directly for those un-clarified questions. On the other hand, this kind of turnaround also reflects the reflection and peace needed today. This just comes from our affection to nature and ideal, as well as the call from the wild field.
In our culture, seclusion is a kind of perfect method to handle the contradiction between reality and ideal. But to He Libin, the purpose for secluding to the wild field is not for enriching himself as the mountain and water in the wild land is already endangered in the process of urbanization and industrial revolution and the leisurely and carefree mood can’t be obtained. Therefore, the turnaround doesn’t mean forever peripateticism, but one must face his spiritual land overgrown with grass. He said: “I have a strong impulse to release myself. Especially in the chaos world, secluding to the wild field and returning to the coolest and calmest state enable every one to face the reality with a sober idea.”
What is respectable in this group of “Wild Field” series, is that he was greatly challenged as he not only wants to seek ultimate answer in the wild field, but also to obtain breakthrough in skill, style and schema.
Nevertheless, the topic is wild field, not yard scenery, which is the realistic progress of Literati Painting. The paintings are profound reflections on the urbanization and flattering of contemporary art, as well as a vivid paradigm to scenic art.
Written By Luo Fei in Liangyuan, Kunming on the night of March 18, 2008
Notes:
(1),According to Bible Genesis, the mankind was exiled out of the paradise for the grandfather Adam & Eve’s stole taste the forbidden fruit and the mankind becomes declined since that time. This is the original sin in Christianity.
From ‘The Way to Come and Go’ to ‘Overlapped View’
–A Talk between Cheng Changwei and He Libin
Keywords: Earth Fantasy and reality Contrast Material experiment
In the talk, He Libin depicted the relationship between his own artworks and life, and an important one was the relationship between human beings and the earth. In 1994 and 1995, He Libin traveled to the west of China, such as Gan Su, Xing Jiang, Shan’Xi and Inner Mongolia. He was deeply touched by the desolation and emptiness in the west and created his first series about that: ‘Views in the West’. During the following years, He Libin has also been expressing the relationship between human beings and the environment by his artworks and doing material experiments in accordance to the changes of his feelings. He Libin answered some questions like what was the relationship between painting language and art history. In the talk, the ideas about contemporary art in Yunnan were also mentioned. According to He, contemporary art in Yunnan was dynamic and with very strong inclination to be experimental, and existed in a free and loose atmosphere to build itself.
Thoughts in Lapse
–A Talk between Zhang Guanghua and He Libin
Keyword: Skeptic Forgotten views Lost world Lapse Inspiration
In the talk, He Libin explained the reason why he created ‘The Lost Writing’ and ‘The Forgotten Views’ by newspaper. Newspaper is of mass production, cheap and with rough touch. After being folded and twisted, the change of black, grey and white of newspaper is what He Libin wanted to express about the forgotten views. In He’s opinion, ‘Everything in the world is wearing away’, and he wanted to express the lapse of time by his artworks.
To Explore the Spiritual Root in Wild Weald
–A Talk among Guan Yuda, Luo Fei and He Libin
Keywords: Weald Wildness Regression Factors beyond civilization Observation with distance
In the talk, Guan Yuda thought that discussing art in Yunnan can’t go without the nature. Although there was some relationship between He Libin’s painting ‘Weald’ and the natural sceneries, this painting should be put in a even broader contemporary cultural vision, and He Libin is not a scenery painter. In Luo Fei’s view, the first time when modernism regressed to weald, what was got were vanity and desperation. Today if weald is going to be the subject again, either go back to modernism or create the classic for the second time. As far as He Libin is concerned, he thought painting was to solve the ultimate problem of human beings: ‘where to come and where to go’. Going back to the spiritual original weald was exactly the factors beyond civilization, which were more natural, distant and clearer solutions to many problems in today’s city life.
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Some comments about He libin’s arts:
He Libin is good at using the integrated materials in a plane to imitate the model of Chinese ancient landscape paintings, expressing a deep rusting memory as well as the rejection and disappointment of the reality.
- Mao Xuhui,The prologue of “Altitude Reaction - Yunnan Young Artist Joint Exhibition”, 2003
The language pattern of He Libin’s works is an approach with multiple parallel language layers. The main scene comes from the traditional Chinese landscape painting but its underlying media is the background that combines calligraphy, printed texts, as well as modern synthetic-coated paint, which displays a more self-expressed narrative text style.
- Wu Jun,”Creativity and Cultural Significance of Contemporary Institute” (Review On The Second Biennial Guiyang Painting Exhibition), 2003
The work (”Lost writing”) is made up of strongly distorted newspaper that is turned into long sticks and in a smart way be neatly pinned together with nails, and the calligraphy comes from the distorted newspaper is embedded in them. These materials and methods make the exciting writing process suffocated, and traces of abstract cursive handwriting become vaguely visible.
- An Li (East Asian Media Anthropology Institute, Germany) ,”Wandering Lives - Individual Disasters & Non-art Uncooperative”, Experimental Art Exhibition Review, 2005
The Naxi Minority artist from Lijiang is known for his deep and internal artistic style, whose painting materials and topics are full of the artist’s inherent personality and great creativity.
- Lin Qingquan”New Living” B42, July 14, 2005
From the naming of the “Western Landscape” in 1995 to “Memories”, “The Come-and-go Road” to “Drifting Shadow”, “The Duplication of Sceneries”, “Lost Writing”, “Dedicated to my Hometown of Lijiang - the 100 moments on December 24, 2005″, such titles are throughout his all works in the past 10 years, including the naming of the exhibitions that he organized or participated, such as “A Tale of Two Cities”, “Mirage”, all expressing his memorial feelings. He has always been careful to find, in his stirring heart, the bygone years and time. It is precisely this consanguinity of historical awareness and the sharing of space-time that consists of the scenery with the preciousness of multiple significances.
- Lin Shanwen,”Art Cases”, April 2006
Walking away from various temporal issues, leaving the noisy and complicated world behind and coming into a no man’s land, when a man is with himself in the wilderness and solitude, he, so small under the sky, is no longer just a short-lived breathing creature on the earth but getting started to regain the thought of eternity and truth; he will rethink his own values and his physical body and mind will no longer be vulnerable to temptation of desires. The lonely heart stays calm and the lonely soul rests at peace without any confusion but with contemplation at the empty land and wilderness, the sole contemplation, the contemplation of himself and of the world around himself and of his conditions as a man who lives in the world. In the process of contemplation, the lonely heart and soul are fully open and released to experience the contemplation condition of “I am in the world and the world is in me” in the empty land and wilderness. However, as an artist, why does he choose to live lonely and in contemplation? I think that an artist has to live in the world where he is not belonged to, since he is the watcher of human being’s soul.
I think that is a link between the deep soul experience and He Libin’s recent works – the “wilderness” series, and the experience can be created and shared between every lonely person who lives in contemplation.
He Libin has walked away from the landscape model, and out of the symbolism of materials and signs. In my opinion, that is a qualitative leap for his artistic life. He once entered a world, looking around in the widely spread images and signs, then he retreated into wilderness full of weeds to contemplate; entered a world of traditional Chinese academic landscape images, then retreated into this world’s paintings of contemplation; entered a mixed signs and materials to have the meanings of culture expression, then retreated into a life experience of the dialogue between himself and soul wildness. As I once said, Libin is that kind of artist who seeks for dual dialogues. Today, the dual dialogues are no longer the dialogues of history, images, signs and materials, but the dialogues between him, as a person who have real lives and feelings and the world. This is gradually emerging through the dialogues about the history, images, signs and materials. Although there are anxieties and struggles during the contemplation in the wilderness, it is the real soul experience for a person who gets started to walk into the way of contemplation and loneliness. The loneliness and pain during the contemplation and loneliness will return eternal soul relief.
I think that it is the wilderness, rather than the yard beauty, that represents the real progress of Chinese academic landscape paintings.
- Luo Fei,”The Contemplation Conception in the Wilderness”, December 31, 2006
Recently Li Bin and Lan Qingxing went to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, where I had been in 2003, for sketching and drew a number of landscape paintings, all of which are pressing stone mountains where clouds are flying around, and that is cool. You will always feel the fragile and short lives when you face the steep mountains. I was wondering why Li Bin and his companies would transport frame canvas so far for sketching under the hot sunshine and in the rain. Nowadays, although there are countryside going and materials collections during an art course, few students can truly comprehend the wonders of the Nature, since the countryside going and materials collections have become formalized and superficial teaching mode: there are no emotional dialogues with the locals during the countryside goings, and the sketching have not built a link between the students’ heart and world, or the Jingjie (state or the level of one’s perception).
We once talked about the importance of the wilderness experience for individual lives and ethnic groups. Although Li Bin does not understand Christian spiritual theology, his deep experience of wilderness/empty land makes him know about the need for soul building and makes him understand the meaning of loneness in this noisy and complicated world, which makes him understand that the wild is the source of power. It was the end of last year when I first saw him getting started to paint the two or three of the “wilderness” series, then I wrote down my feelings about that when I came back and sent the article to him with uncertainty, since I do not understand why he was concerned about wilderness. I only turned my experience at the belief and spiritual level into artistic language to describe the “wilderness.” Later on, he said: “Although the words are very short, it was very in line with my mood.” I think the real soul experience on art and religion is the same.
The Jews are very familiar to wilderness since their ethnic history is generated from the wilderness, and nowadays they often live outside with the whole family. But for Chinese, especially intellectuals, wilderness is so far away that there are many pretty hills, green waters and pleasant courtyards in our traditional culture but no a barren wilderness.
On the going into wilderness, there are two points must be explained. Firstly, living alone in wilderness is not escaping but regaining strength and listening to the voices of his own soul, whose charming can not be understood by those who do not have the deep lonely living experience. Chinese literati like to go to beautiful landscapes being with themselves, but as I once said, it is the wilderness, rather than the yard beauty, that represents the real progress of the Chinese academic landscape paintings, because it surpassed the transmigrate fate that Chinese literati can not avoid: escape and seclusion. Today, there are still many artists who agree with this idea and value - “studio artists”, who make works in the studio working with workers or assistants and let the finished works sent to the agents for high money rewards, then continue to their next studio works. This very safe and hidden way is very appealing for some young artists, since it will make them happy and famous without at lower prices. Secondly, going out into wilderness is not resulting from himself but for the calls from the wilderness and the attraction to our spiritual personality from the personification of the wilderness. Libin agreed with me by saying that we need to repeatedly return to the original point looking up to the light of spirit; otherwise we will be lost in this era.
Libin asked me, “Is there a word to describe my art and thought?” I thought for a while and said no, especially today - there are not so many people who are willing to climb up to barren heights of solitude of the spirit and soul to contemplate. If we have to use a word to describe his art, the word should be “spiritual art” (it is not about the art of spirituality, but about the spirituality of art). It is not a rapid and fashionable response to the current mainstream but the experience of an individual living alone to seek for the universal human spirit of the ultimate brilliance. I said to him, your works is so very close to God!
Every time I talked to Libin I was astonished to see the two light beams of thought that are repeatedly staggered to integrate and bring out the new beams in the dark.
- Luo Fei’s blog “The Spiritual Level in Arts”, 5 September, 2007
In “Western Landscapes” series 12 years ago and current “wilderness” series, He Libin has been trying to “seek for a kind of strong self-exile”, and go back into “coldest and most lonely stage of heart” to liberate the human being’s soul from the heavy shackles of the various desires that derive from the modern material civilization, going back to the calm and natural soul stage, going into the deeper realm of human being’s life to look at themselves, then to face current realities with clearer mind.
In his works, two color modeling elements, which are flowing brushwork full of life passion and the simple black-and-white color, have the dominant position with the light and shape at its services. Shapes are fading away from highly dynamic brushworks that were distorted and rolling, “broken” but not losing its overall internal structural changes. These brushworks, which are full of life energy and touching, learned from Chinese Painting’s conception of “using ink to replace color” to display the meaning of nature by using the black-and-white color, “broken” but not losing the overall body shape, as well as rocks, treetops, and the dramatic flashing lights from the grass, which built a single and unified scene of the whole world.In his “wilderness” series, the man’s body wrapped for a long time and the stillness of everything in the wilderness has been opened completely. Human being, as presence of the world, is linked to the whole world. The visual world that was experienced by He Libin but was often “forgotten” by the busy people has been reopened.
- Zhu Jun,”The Beard of Realism” (The Preface to “Color World” Exhibition), February, 2008
