In Response...

A paper I wrote a few months ago is a fitting response to The Shocking Truth about Contemporary Art by Lucy Chen.http://lucychenfineart.com/shocking-truth-about-contemporary-art/#%21

Why Contemporary Chinese Art is Appealing According to Dr. Paul Gladston

K. L. Edwards
February 27, 2013

            Dr. Paul Gladston gives the audience an opportunity to consider a new way of viewing Chinese contemporary art.  He cleverly shows a ‘trinity’ of perspective: literally, as seen in Masaccio’s The Trinity, 1425; spatially, as in Marcel Duchamp’s, Fountain 1917; and conceptually, in Yard, 2006 by Song Tao and B6.  Gladston suggests the Western viewer to go beyond the typical Western superficial aesthetic paradigm when viewing Eastern art.  Using Liu Xie’s Wensin Dialing, 6th Century, he sets the stage for viewing the film short Yard, 2006 by Song Tao and B6. 

            In Yard, the viewer bears witness to two specific aspects of this ancient text: specifically, “[h]siu” meaning ‘what strikes you first’? -  what is the immediate impact of the image; and, “yin” being the layered meaning lying beyond the text; the unfolding of its significance slowly showing the continual revelation of layers of greater depth and illimitable transformation.  The viewer is asked to think about the initial response; then, rather than ‘shut off’ because of the inability to categorize, classify and compartmentalize the image, stay with the image and go through the discomfort and unease.  Gladston wants the viewer to be open to using a new critical model for Contemporary Chinese art allowing for a deeper and richer understanding of complex work.  Going beyond the superficiality of media and form allows the viewer the opportunity to become completely immersed in the work.

            In Yard’s linear timeline, there is confusion and discordance between the images on the screen and the audio; tension between shaking and controlled camera clips, leading to complex, multi-layered visual images; and audio sounds that arrive at a clear, concise, harmonic yet energetic end.  Gladstone refers to historical scroll painting, Along the River During Qingming Festival by 12th Century artist, Zhang Zeduan.   Still clips of Yard reveal a form similar to the traditional scroll painting. Song and B6 have combined tradition with technology.  Their inclusion of the traditional scroll form and traditional symbols such as the bird is acknowledgement of their history.  Just as other contemporary Chinese artists such as Gu Wenda, Xu Bing pull from the ancient masters, so, too, do Song Tao and B6. 

            In Forest of Stone Steles, 1993-2005, Gu Wenda uses the tradition of carving history and epic stories into stone steles when serially translating a Tang Poem.  This installation speaks to issue surrounding misinterpretation of translation.  The orientation of the objects is unusual.  The calligraphy is foreign to the Western viewer.  A misunderstanding of things unknown and objects oddly situated can lead to a lack of appreciation or conversely an increased curiosity.  The viewer has a fascination of the indecipherable where, according to Gladston, “the significance of the resulting artwork is rendered ‘undecideable’”.  He refers to Duchamp’s Fountain, 1917, in similar light.  Using the philosophies of Western world creates a pretentious opinion that disallows for the openness Gladston requests of the Western viewer.  Going beyond the shallow physical examination of the artwork, to spend time with the work, reveals the latent and significant meanings.  The effect of art critics using Western art-world methodology when looking at Contemporary Chinese art is realized in many contemporary art works having the re-occurring theme of misinterpreted translations.

            Just as Gu used the idea of translation, so does Xu Bing.  A Case Study of Transference, 1994, where male and female pigs are printed with false English and Chinese scripts Xu repeats the misinterpretation motif.  Using traditional ink, traditional calligraphy, traditional block printing, and books Xu created a layered ‘performance’ piece that is multidimensional.  The reoccurring theme of misinterpretation is important not only concerning the misunderstanding of cultures.  It is also about the imposition of Western ideas on Eastern sensibilities.  The imposition of interpretation of artwork using only the Western paradigm creates a romanticized view thereby negating the underlying sacred connection of art to artist to the esoteric.  The holy trinity is not available in the western aesthetic view.  

            Gladston is suggesting when the viewer is able to contemplate with, to immerse into, and be absorbed by the image found in the contemporary Chinese art (all art for that matter), the experience is unexplainable.  To be open and vulnerable and to receive information of a contemporary work means the viewer does not have to arrive at a point of resolution.  The work can simply be what it is – an expression of an artist’s thoughts and feelings formed by his or her experiences and rooted in tradition.