2008 - The East West Dialogue and the Theory of Art

"The three stipulations of mass art during the Cultural Revolution were that it should show “redness, brightness and luminosity." Time Magazine

"Confucius says, “Always think about others. Be nice to people, and they will be nice to you.” But he doesn’t say anything about searching for yourself, as a human.” That’s why I think its time to rethink this culture. Not destroy it, but question it. People must be brave, then they can think and create." Cui Jian

Rise of China

By 2008, I had been in China long enough to understand a little about the way that China operated as a culture, as well as the myths that shaped how individuals behaved in cross-cultural situations. To think more holistically about these issues, I used the stylised oil technique that I had invented after my experiences with ink wash. I then infused it with symbolism to reference cultural constructs. This allowed the paintings to act like visual expressions of metaphoric poetry. Much like the pairing of a gun and a rose creates a certain image that is somewhat ambiguously defined, I used sequences of symbols to create narratives that asked questions about how easterners and westerners defined themselves, and defined others. Again, my visual imagery was not drawn from life, but from considering social issues in symbolic and emotional ways.

After the Beijing Olympics, I returned to Australia and became heavily engrossed in the theory of art. I revisited a style that I referred to as Geometric Expressionism. The style was inspired by looking at Picasso's weeping women series, which made me feel like I was looking at a woman's tears in an intellectual way. I came to appreciate that geometry had a way of constraining emotion. However, unlike Cubist artists who manipulated geometry to show a mosaic of perspectives in a 2 dimensional plane, I used it to influence emotions. Basically, just as a photographer uses black and white photo of nudes to make an image that is less about erotic stimulation and more about shape and form, I used geometry to restrain emotion and encourage cognitive consideration. In short, I wanted a restraint of emotion to heighten tension and create feelings on the edge of control, and subsequently blend that with a consideration of psychological issues.

Journeys

The Hollow Men

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