I used my method to copy four hanging scrolls from the Suzhou Museum. The four paintings that I chose are themselves works based on earlier paintings, something that is made...
I used my method to copy four hanging scrolls from the Suzhou Museum. The four paintings that I chose are themselves works based on earlier paintings, something that is made apparent in their titles. "Plagiarism" does not exist in traditional Chinese culture. Good poetry emphasizes use of the "canon," the brilliant poetry of earlier generations. If a good painting possesses "classical" qualities, it must reflect the brushwork of the ancients. Chinese painting emphasizes "paper copying paper," and through these symbolized brushstrokes, it is passed on from generation to generation. The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, China’s most famous work of art instruction, compiles the brushstrokes — mountain strokes, tree strokes, rock strokes — from paintings of old. It is a dictionary. Students need only memorize the "radicals" to express everything existing in this world. In China, calligraphy and painting are a single action. Painting a mountain is writing the character "mountain". The Character "mountain" is the concept of "mountain", and the pith of a "mountain" and also a copy of the image "mountain" and how it has evolved. These four works nakedly exhibit and explore this tradition. Work of the Chinese literati are born from feelings that develop between friends, over time, at gatherings and outings. This group of prints, drafted over a period of ten years, are a record of a friendship.
September third, two thousand and eleven, Chang Chun Xu Bing.