廖美蘭的部落格

1. Present the characteristics of lines:

The essence of Chinese painting is the line. The base of Chinese ink painting is to master the soul of the brush. Of course, the ways of using the brush change over time. Modern Chinese ink painting should not bind itself on repeating ancient ways. So, based on this spirit, exploring the variation of the line is my goal. Although the revolutionists among the modern ink painters attempted to promote the idea of abandoning the Chinese brush pen during 1950s, I don’t think it is necessary to give up the painting tool that possesses the strong characteristics of Chinese culture.

2. Elaborate[1] the aesthetics of Chinese ink painting:

Ink painting is a concrete presentation of oriental aesthetics and a kind of symbol with cultural characteristics as well. It is different from painting on the rice paper with ink and painting on the canvas with oil paint. To do oil painting, we can paint on the canvas which has already been painted again and again, but the ink painting has the limitation that it is hard to manipulate[2] the ink on the rice paper. But we can sometimes get special effects because of this. Therefore, I persist in pursuing the interesting variation of ink painting while I make innovations with modern Chinese ink painting.

3. Convey the content of deep thoughts

The old, mottled[3], moribund[4] things are always very attractive to me. Those kinds of things always appear in my paintings. I adore[5] the mottled, incomplete and bitter aesthetics. I expect to convey the content of deep thoughts through the picture. I think the pleasant feeling that comes from beautiful things is temporary, but the things that touch our soul are remembered in viewers’ heart constantly and forever. I hope the viewers can realize that I have really given much thought to my works and will be moved while they view my works.

4. Make use of imagination that surpasses the reality and lead the viewers to run their thoughts without boundary：

Symbolism conveys secret allegories[6] and ideas, surrealism attempts to expand the subconscious of human beings. Expressionism probes the feeling world of the mankind. They all fascinate me. So, I hope to make the audience echo with my works by my attempting to increase the vigor of the works through the weird image of my painting language and the shocking effect of vision.

5. Capture the movement of life:

The value of arts is to reflect the voice of an individual within a certain culture. To depict one’s environment means to both criticize and carry forth history, to express recognition of the life, to comment on the times, and to look toward the future. So I try to translate what I see, what I hear, and what I feel into the language of painting and express my perceptions of life and environment.

6. Capture the soul of the society and express concerns about the humanities:

My world of painting is filled with concerns about society and sympathy for mankind. I use signs, symbols and metaphors to arise people’s respect for life and use ironies[7] to reflect the dirty tricks of politicians which would threaten the right of people’s everyday lives. I try to waken people’s morality and wisdom and become a good soul catcher in this chaotic[8] world. So, It is my adherence[9]to concern about human and to take the birth, death, love, fate, predestination[10], freedom and happiness of people as the theme to probe into and express humanitarianism in all works.

7. Combine the characteristics of both Chinese and Western paintings:

By capturing the characteristics of lines in Chinese ink painting on one hand and capturing the concepts of time and space in Western painting on the other hand, I try to develop my own way and create a new life for the visual of the ink painting. I apply the traditional skills and the space concept in my works and am brave enough to try various new techniques such as transparent[11] paint, rubbings[12], clippings[13], and paint-gun painting, etc. In my opinion, painting materials should be bestridden[14] by the artists, and not otherwise. So, the ways of the expression of the creation should not be limited. Instead, they should be kept flexible and go with real conditions.

There goes the saying that “One's tolerance and open-mindedness lead to one's greatness.” My attitudes toward Chinese ink painting are that I won’t exclude[15] any possibility of the ways of painting, and I’ll catch up with the times, but I won’t move with the times without assessment[16]. I will do my best to absorb other excellent expressions of ideas and techniques, to improve myself just like to sift the wheat from the chaff[17], to reveal my underlying attributes[18], and to build my own painting style. Nowadays, the culture exchanges between the East and the West have become more frequent. To reflect the unique features of our time, we have to look at our cultural traditions, and determine what to preserve and to develop. In addition, we have to make informed choices of what to accept and to absorb from foreign cultures. This will enable us to create a new individual style that integrates Chinese, Taiwanese and modern characteristics. It is a responsibility that Chinese ink painters will all need to face. It is also a goal that we have to strive to achieve.