VOID LINGERS IN VOID, ABUNDANCE VANISHES INSIDE ABUNDANCE

-Transcend the Dilemma of Counterpoint

By: Loy Luo

I once spend over a year trying to emulate the way Gilles Deleuze interprets Francis Bacon in his book, "Logic of Sense".I applied Nietzsche's "Will of Power" to the interpretation of an artist and her art. In my judgment, the life of the artist resembles a fickle burning desire. I think that Nietzsche's philosophy is equivalent to the tenet of her art. But what about the equivalent of mine? For many years. I have been trying to watch myself with the eyes of a bystander, continually looking for an answer to and experimenting with the notion of "Who am 18", as if I had been deprived of the soul. Am I a fireball burning, as if duty-bound? I am not that strong. Am I self-cleansing water in this earthly world? I am not that calm. agree to the transcending nature of Chinese art as expressed in Xu Fuguan's writing. However, rising to the state of nature may seem egoistic and it is becoming of me to keep striving and to adhere to the Daoist thinking of inaction when I quit this world, without regret or feeling obliged? I think that all art practices are about transcending the spiritual constraints, and ridding of the secular burdens that our physical bodies laden with, only what happens after the transcendence and how enlightened one becomes vary case by case.

Personally, I agree more with the Christian-style contemporary transcendence practice. It acknowledges the legitimacy of idolatry rejections. l.e. the return to an imperceptible omnipresent God. Thus it ushers in the daring experiment of spirits going beyond the material world without severing its connection with the human world, where it resides in the hearts. Men are chosen by God, and are a passage from materialism to spirituality.

Thanks to Pythagoras and Plato, the barriers between western religion and philosophy, and between the secular world and paradise, hadbeen bridged. The division came later on. Arguing vehemently, Plato revealed whether art could transcend the earthly barrier and reach the spiritual realm. Later, in subsequent debates about varied art theories. art has always striven to reveal the truth through images. until imitation art failed in revealing the truth of the world. Oriental art realized earlier than its western counterpart that you cannot judge a book by its cover. However, its realization didn't go far enough. The truth is, through the proclamation of Abstractionism, the challenge posed by Suprematism and the adventure of Conceptualism, the pure dance of free ideas has become a passion for serious artists. Malevich. Klein, Tàpies. Rothko, were soul dancers good at dancing in the sky, radiating breathtaking beauty and brilliance from within, which has energy in great abundance. Religion. philosophy, and art have not until recently made the drift towards or are moving to the glory of the Holy Trinity.

According to classical Chinese aesthetics and art ethos. all of these dilemmas will be resolved through spiritual transcendence. Nobody knows where we may go from there but the vibrant spiritual wings know where the wind blows.

I am positive that in the center of the void, as in a human heart, there is a burning fire." Re-reading Klein's book, I am even more convinced that one's art is his religion or philosophy. What one has inside shows on the canvas, and shapes the style. An artist's character, changing or not, is something deeply engraved. In all ages, great masters have their own fantastic temperaments, which are not made. The temperament comes from within and is a barometer of how tolerant you are of the world, whether you go with or against the tide of life. It comes from your understanding of what it means to be a human being.

Perhaps my psychological traits, my being a Gemini or my AB blood type means that I will wear the shackles of contradiction throughout my life. That plus the two cultures that have nourished me and caught between the opposites of earth vs ocean, risk-taking vs caution, openness

vs constraints, bright versus claustrophobic, calmness vs fierceness my life will be spent waging wars against my other self. Personality determines fate. I think that it is my fate to mitigate the seemingly impossible contradictions inside myself and integrate them into my art.

Void lingers in void, while abundance vanishes inside abundance. This poetic atmosphere is the atmosphere of painting, and the ultimate illustration of life and universe. East and West, philosophy and religion, human and the universe. the flesh and the spirit, void and abundance, existence and disappearance... like the ancient totem of Taiji, the two poles move against each other, circulate, encroach upon and permeate each other, repel and alienate each other. When art reaches such a stage, life will become indescribably expansive, fabulous and worthwhile.
 
 
空无在空无中徘徊,繁多在繁多里消逝

———超越对位困局

文/羅一

我曾花费一年多时间做研究,终于仿效德勒兹在《感觉的逻辑》 一书中阐释培根,以尼采的欲望哲学为主线阐释一位艺术家及其艺 术。在我的判断里伊之生命就像一团跌宕不宁的欲望之火,我以为 尼采哲学是其作品气韵的适当对位,可我自己的对位呢?很多年, 我力图旁观自我,反复寻找、体验,在图像里、形体中、文字间, 有时内心就像那个喊着:“我是谁?谁是我?“的失魂人一样自问不 休。我是一团熊熊燃烧义无反顾的火吗?我没有那么强盛。我是一 湾在尘世中不断自污自净的水吗?我没有那么沉静。我认同徐复观 笔下中国艺术精神的超越本质,但却以为,超越到山水自然境界看 似无我,念念不息还在我,离世无为却终又挂碍。我以为世界各种 族最精粹的艺术实践都体现了精神超越的本质,都试图摆脱尘世肉 身之繁重羁缚,只不过超越的去向及层级各自不同。

我个人更多赞许类似基督教特色的当代超越实践,它从另一角度 认同了原始基督教艺术拒绝偶像刻划的正当性,即重返上帝无形 无相的真实全在,从而开启了艺术世界精神对物质决绝超离的勇 敢尝试。同时精神超越物质但绝不超离人间,相反,它时时刻刻 分分秒秒都在人间,在人心。因为人是上帝的选民,是物质渡向 精神的器皿。

由于毕达哥拉斯与柏拉图的功劳,西方的宗教与哲学,尘世与天界的壁垒早已是打通的,分隔倒是后来的事。柏拉图以一种过于激烈 的论调,揭示了艺术是否能够穿越肉身屏障抵达精神之真的问题。 之后在各种艺术理论的辩护中,千百年来,艺术始终在影像求真中奋战,直至宣告模仿艺术追逐世界真相的彻底破产。在对外相真实 不可靠的认知上,东方艺术比西方艺术更早觉醒,但不彻底,事实上。 要经由抽象主义的宣告,至上主义的挑战,观念艺术的犯险………精神,更自由精神的纯然舞蹈才成为严肃艺术家们的动心追求。马列维其,克莱因,塔皮埃斯,罗斯科,一颗颗善于在空中起舞的是,只因 其内心深处的巨大能量无法遏制才光芒班理地美艳。而宗教、哲学、 艺术也只有时至今日才真正走向,或开始走向三位一体的荣光。

按照中国古典美学关于精神气的与艺术品质的对位理论,我们所有 的困局都将在精神超升的路上化解。再向前行,我们将往何处,无 人得知,可振动的精神的翅膀会听风。

我坚信在空之心中一如在人之心中,有一些燃烧的火,“重读克莱因。 越发坚信一个人的艺术正是一个人的生命哲学或宗教。趣味决定样 貌,格局决定气象,而性格则是艺术实践中无论变与不变都将深深 镌刻的烙印。古往今来,大家自有大气象,气象不从刻意营造中来。 气象来自你的心在对命运或顺从或抗争中究竟对世界宇宙有多大包 容,气象来自你对人之为人究竟有多深切悟。

或许由于心理暗示,或许双子星座、AB血型真的注定了我终生不可 摆脱的矛盾分裂,加之后天所受的东西方两条文明河流的滋养,黄土 海洋,冒险谨慎,坦荡局促,明明幽闭,沉静激烈,使我无时不在我 与我之奋战中消耗着生命与流年。性格决定使命,我想我的使命应该 就是将所有似乎无法共存的矛盾在体内共存,在艺术里融合。

空无在空无中徘徊,繁多在繁多里消逝。这样的诗意情境正是 情境,更是生命宇宙终极情境,东方西方,哲学宗教,人与字亩, 肉身精神,空无繁多,存在消逝…………如古老的太极图腾,在两极打 立中动起来,旋起来,互相侵犯渗透,又互相抵制疏离,当艺术进 入这样的场境,生命便无法言喻地宏阔了,美妙了,值得了。