China Red by Ode To Art

CHINA RED YU NANCHENG

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F O R W A R D

In his forty years of practicing art, Yu Nancheng has learnt from the foreign artistic traditions, keeping in mind the essence of traditional Chinese culture, reinterpreting this blend of rich cultural heritage in the light of modern age with a genuine contemporary touch.

What inspired me in his art practice is the way he crosses the borders from East to West and from modernity to tradition. Bridging both elements, Yu Nan Cheng reflects on domestic economic progress and development; yet, the presence of ancestral practices suggests ambivalence - Tai Chi and Kongfu as immemorial art haunt the modern compositions in remembrance of former China.

Yu uses a unique technique of painting with an infinite perspective, leading to see the uniformity and harmony of people practicing Kongfu or Tai Chi as one. The term â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Tai Chiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; may often seem solely as a name for a martial art practice; however, the significance of the concept is much deeper and undoubtedly occupies the heart of Chinese roots. The essence of Tai Chi is in the interaction and balance between opposing forces or flows, hard and soft, which have been skillfully captured in Yuâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. The spatial ability in his artwork is only limited by the size of the canvas itself, extending great energy to the viewer. This powerful visual effect creates an impression of infinitude and immensity, giving strength to the traditional elements represented here - Chinese cultural heritage appears limitless and timeless.

I hope you will enjoy and feel through his paintings the puissant tradition of ancient China, its force and presence, and that you will realize as I did how Yu Nan Cheng is a promising artist of this rich heritage. Jazz Chong Director Ode To Art

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Heaven’s Course Is Constant The Art of Yu Nancheng Dr. Duan Jun Art Critics, Fine Art, Tsinghua University Chinese culture is currently in the midst of a remarkable period of integration into the broader global culture Today’s China sees foreign and indigenous cultural elements bound up in a steady process of influence and mutual adaptation, and yet broadly speaking, these foreign influences cannot yet be said to have been completely incorporated into the main body of Chinese culture. Indeed many of the most significant cultural turning points in Chinese history have themselves been predicated on the introduction of foreign cultural forms which, after having been fully processed and reinterpreted along native lines, came to foster the birth of new modes of civilisation. It took, for instance, the complete assimilation and naturalization of Buddhist thought on the part of Neo- Confucian thinkers for Chinese philosophical traditions to reach new heights of sophistication. So although in this day and age it is no longer possible or even desirable for Chinese artists to restrict their artistic vision to the perspective of a single people or nation, this does not prevent them from using China’s own indigenous artistic traditions as a foundation from which to seek to understand the world at large. In the course of his forty years as a practicing artist, Yu Nancheng has long since internalised the lessons to be learnt from foreign artistic traditions, but he is equally aware of the inherent allure that traditional Chinese culture holds; much of his work therefore seeks to reinterpret this rich cultural heritage in light of the particular challenges of the modern age. The series entitled Tai Chi, within his larger series, China Red, is representative of this trend in his art. Although many westerners inevitably associate the term Tai Chi solely with the martial art of the same name, it is in fact a concept with much deeper philosophical significance and one which occupies a place at the very heart of Chinese civilisation. The term has been variously translated into English as “The Supreme Ultimate”, “The Supreme Polarity”, or, in Richard Wilhelm’s seminal translation of the Book of Chan ges, as ‘The Great Primal Beginning’, and it can be roughly equated with that principle from which all existence ultimately flows. In the Book of Changes it states: “Therefore there is in the Changes the Great Primal Beginning. This generates the two primary forces. The two primary forces generate the four images. The four images generate the eight trigrams.” From this passage it is evident that Tai Chi is born out of Change and it is through the mutual interactions and alternations between the primary forces of ‘hard and

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soft’ – the active and the quiescent – that the myriad

festival; a brief recompense from the daily grind and

changes arise and give manifestation to form in a

staid routine. As the media is constantly reminding

ceaseless cycle of generation, disintegration and

us, everything today is in a state of flux. Everything

regeneration. Yu Nancheng’s art likewise moves from

is changing at unprecedented speeds and as the

the simple into the complex, in the Tai Chi series for

whole of society hastens down the road towards

instance, he takes this principle of Change and seeks

modernity, we find there is never enough time. But

to give it concrete expression in the crowds of people

the fact is that it is not that we have no time, but

engaged in the practice of Tai Chi. The canvas itself

that the onus now rests with us to create our own

moves out of extreme simplicity into a great complex

time. In his works Yu Nancheng seeks to construct

criss-cross of wheeling, roiling figures all practicing

a kind of time that has a place for history and space

T’ai Chi and while the very complex can often be

for the concerns of the individual; and so the viewer,

viewed as being somehow limited, in the case of Yu’s

when confronted by Yu’s works, may think back to

works, any spatial limitations are central position.

the words of the ancient Confucian philosopher

Because the subject matter he chooses to depict

Xunzi when he wrote: ‘Nature’s course is constant,

abounds in social significance, generally speaking it

to Emperor Yao’s virtue unheedful and to Emperor

is with this Confucian strain in Chinese culture that

Jie’s wickedness inviolate.’ Society, like nature, will

Yu Nancheng’s artworks share the greatest affinity. It

change, but in accordance with its own laws and

was Liang Qichao who once wrote ‘In China, Daoist

along its own natural course and art too will evolve

and Mohist thinkers have always tended to view

and flourish in its midst.

practical matters as possessing little investigative value, regarding them as being somewhat vulgar and beneath their concerns. The ideal for them then has always been to leave society in search of a place that transcends mundane reality, and although their approach may yet be a little more down-to-earth than those intellectuals who live their lives purely in their heads, they are still at a very far remove from the common concerns of daily life. It is only with the Confucians that we see an earnest attempt to take the substance of social life as the foundation for their philosophical principles, be it in cultivation of the self, or for the betterment of society.’ Perhaps it is in these principles of Change and Predetermination

that

Nancheng

seeks

ground his artistic philosophy, for his works are deeply imbued with a sense of time in its various guises; sometimes ancient, cyclic, still – almost a time without time – at other times suffused with something of the peculiar temporal rhythm of the

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天行有常－于南澄的画段君

中国文化目前正处于与世界文化的融合阶段，改革开放三十年

阶级形式主义”。而今，灰色成为高级的色调，它不仅让于南

以来，外来文化与中国文化不断地进行磨合，但从整体上看，

澄画面的背景更加富有不可知的质感，同时也使得主体的红色

外来的力量还没有完全融入中国文化的体内。在中国文化史

更为响亮，冷暖、动静的对比效果在视觉上具有很强的冲击力

上，几处重大的转折，都是在以中国文化彻底消化外来文化的

和当代感。以油画刀技法作画，虽然使他的作品失去了江南文

基础上，所创造出来的新文明，比如宋明理学即是完全消化了

化中常见的湿性，但于南澄获得的是画中形体的金属、雕塑质

佛家，才在哲学史上达到新的高度。虽然今天中国的艺术家已

感，作品因而显得厚重。而中国文化本身即是厚重的，轻浮的

经不可能再把自己限制在一个单一民族或单一国家的视角，但

质地不足以表达中国文化的特质。

这并不妨碍艺术家以中国的传统为基础来理解世界。

中华民族之所以存在，最重要是因为中国文化存在，中国

于南澄从艺四十载，对境外艺术了然于胸，知晓中国文化

文化中又以儒家文化为主。于南澄的绘画，从整体上看更接近

的内在引力，其作品是对本地文化进行的当代演绎。《中华太

中国文化中的儒家，因为他的画面场景具有社会性。梁启超曾

极》系列在他的“中国红”系列中比较有代表性。太极在中国

言：“中国的道家和墨家，认为现实的事物都很粗俗，没有研

传统文化中处于最内核的位置，《易·系辞传》言：“是故易

究的价值；要离开社会，找一个超现实的地方，以为安身立命

有太极，是生两仪。两仪生四象。四象生八卦。”可见，太极

之所。虽比专求知识较切近些，但离日常生活还是去得很远。

由易而生。易是指变化，因天地间的刚与柔这两种原力相互

唯有儒家，或为自己修养的应用，或为改良社会的应用，对于

推衍，而生出种种变化。于南澄在作品中由简入繁，把易的“

处世接物的方法，要在学理上求出一个根据来。”

理”具象化为众人打太极的场景。画面从极简易变为极繁杂，打太极的队列纵横交错。极繁杂通常被视为有限，但有限并不是指画面存在边界，它只是于南澄在空间上的感觉。

或许“易”、“命”即是于南澄的作品在学理上所寻找的根据，他的画里有一种时间感，有时如同古老的、轮回的、静止的时间，有时又如同节日的韵律，是对庸常劳作生活的补偿。

浪漫主义艺术认为，艺术是无限的到来在有限的躯体上借

今天所有的媒体都在提醒我们，任何事物都在发生快速的变

尸还魂。以此来看于南澄的作品，它正是有限和无限的结合。

化，没有时间了，整个国家社会都在现代化的轨道上。而实际

有限只是作为具体现实中的具体活动而出现，活动使有限成为

上，我们不是没有时间，而是要自己建构属于自己的时间。于

重复性的运动，但有限恰恰是在运动中保存了自身。在于南澄

南澄在作品中试图建构出属于自我和历史的时间，因此，看于

的作品里，成排的、整齐的人群，标明井井有条的秩序，以此

南澄的画，会令人想到荀子的话：“天行有常，不为尧存，不

摆脱对零散的恐惧。但真正的困扰是：如何才能激活思想的能

为桀亡。”天和社会均按照它的自然法则变化和运行，艺术在

量，使人类的心灵具有理性和历史的厚度，从而不再感到无可

其中同样生生不息。

名状的恐惧。因此，于南澄把打太极的场景安置在天安门广场和天坛等地，因为天安门广场和天坛等都是中国社会和历史的象征。改革开放三十年的步履证明：国家社会的变革并非一朝一夕的事情，而是循序渐进的变化，因为天地万物本身即非一成不变，都是时时刻刻在发生变化。于南澄遵循的是古老的易的理：国家社会的改革并非头痛医头、脚痛医脚，而是要从根本处下手。作为画家的于南澄，试图从社会和历史发展所根植的文化入手，他使用“中国红”元素在《中华太极》系列、《新上海》系列、《国粹》系列、《舞者》系列、《花》系列等作品中塑造出来的主体形象，在色彩方面具有较为强烈的传统感，不仅沉稳，而且单纯。红和灰是他作品中的两种主要颜色，灰色在 20世纪60年代和70年代被视为“灰暗低沉、玩弄技巧的资产

2 0 1 2 年 4 月

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