Art

THE THRILL OF IMPULSIVE PAINTING

Wang Bangxiong*

As soon as I opened Mio Pangfei's• Album I was struck by the passions that filled his paintings. Many of his works glow with wild rapture, masculinity, vigour and boldness: some as explosive as the outbursts of volcanoes, some as bewildering as dreams. I can see that Mio Pangfei applies paint boldly on canvas and freely mixes colours with the greatest ease. Yet, there is obvious control as his brush dashes about. Moreover, there is order, there is pattern, there is strength and fluency, and there is rhythm flying all over his paintings. Through his creations, the painter has transformed his aspirations, longings, wishes, passions and wisdom into poetic images which rise to a crescendo in his paintings. We feel the throbbing of his heart in front of his paintings.

We perceive amidst Mio Pangfei's artistic images his profound sense of historical mission and his identification with Oriental culture traditions. These images, imbued with animation and fire are daring, primitive, simple, natural and extremely straightforward. Indeed, the art of painting, to put it plainly, is the patination of long years of practice and, during the process, there is the continuous development of skills and relentless exploration and pursuit of perfection, just as Zheng Bianqao• says:"[...] the bamboo in the heart is not the same as that in the eye, nor is the bamboo in the hand the same as that in the heart." The French writer Honoré de Balzac made similar comments when he said: "Only when holding the brush in hand does the painter start thinking." I personally do not fancy the idea of using many words to explain artistic works, for painting already speaks for itself, which no words can substitute. Painting itself is a complete independent system, so any words are superfluous. Besides, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder', and no wonder that [the American contemporary art critic and writer] Susan Sontag put forward her "[...] opposition to interpretations [...]" maintaining that we should perceive artistic works with our senses and substitute interpretations with "[...] sensuous experiences [...]". However, since human being have created works they have used words to describe their perceptions and reactions to certain experiences which is a tragedy for humanity and which contradicts the dual principle of human civilization and rationalism.

As a matter of fact, the art of drawing is extremely simple in its original simplicity. The child makes its first attempts at exploring the visual images on a white sheet of paper. At first the toddler is not aware that anything is extraordinary will happen to the paper and pen. It just keeps knocking the pen and paper and then discovers that there is not only sound but also a visual image. There, from the tip of the pen, emerges a trace, a mark, which obviously arouses the child's interest. He becomes more and more curious, marveling at this trace, this mark appearing from the tip of his pen, and at the unexpected visual reward for his effort. Then, he will repeat this game, scribbling and scrawling again and again. And as time goes by, his scribbling becomes more lively, more vigorous. But, unfortunately, problems arise as painting becomes a career or a trade: the original naiveté, the primitive simplicity, the easy freedom, the natural relaxation and enjoyment, and the substance and play are all gone. No wonder many artists nowadays are appealing for a return to primitivity and a return to childhood so that we can get back the lost 'straw hat'. Looking at Mio Pangfei's paintings I feel more and more clearly convinced that there is no tension but casual ease in his paintings, as if a naughty boy got thrilled at those colourful paintings and became more and more thrilled and he went on scrawling and could not stop. Comparing Mio Pangfei's painting to a naughty boy's scribbling with paint does not in the least underestimate his works. Believe it or not, and accept it or not, one of the most distinctive features of modem painting is its similarity to that of the child's instinctive and primitive creations.

Germain Bazin wrote in his Introduction to Art: "To really have a correct understanding of the most ancient spiritual expressions, we must trace its roots to the very beginning of the earliest impulse of artistic creations. For example, the earliest human sculpture of the Paleolithic Period and the cave paintings of the Primitive Age were no aesthetic expressions of the early men in exceptional forms but a generic form of expression of the human spiritual instinct [...] or, in other words, the most special form of expression of all human activities."

If Bazin's idea perfectly conceived for human existence is regarded as human spirit, then artistic creation is a form of expression of that spirit. We feel somewhat surprised, satisfied and enchanted in front of children's creations, Primitive art and modem art exactly because the authors of these artistic creations communicate passionately and emotionally with their audience through artistic images, which embody the common experience and inner feelings of the children, the Primitive men and Modem men. It is not at all an exaggeration to say that this common experience with the objects is a bridge linking spiritually the child, the Primitive man and the modem man. Indeed, art look after life as soon as they are born. Primitive art, as well as that of children's, give us a deep graphic understanding of life in its embryonic form. More importantly, from the basis, arts even provide guidance to life. Perhaps it is proper to say, an analogy is drawn between Mio Pangfei paintings and those of children and of primitive men because there is still that precious naiveté of children and wildness of primitive men hidden in his soul and blood. [...] Well know Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (°1896-†1980), after very careful observations pointed out that the first impulse of children is towards 'realism'. That is to say that children unconditionally consider themselves, their own existence, something direct, objective and absolute. In other words, children cannot separate themselves from the objective world. The trait of children's finds its resemblance in the murals of the Altamira caves in Spain, in worldwide folk arts and in early Chinese pictographs/calligraphy. The problem with modem men lies in the continuous efforts to overcome the interference from the rational with the perceptual, to maintain the purity of the 'intuition', i. e., the original truth of art. In its earliest simplicity, it is a simple 'act' or 'action', a play for play's sake. Its later developments merge into the pursuits of the adult. So, to retrieve the lost childlike innocence and playfulness has become a goal of many a contemporary artist. However, with the gaining of years and of knowledge it would be impossible to go back to childhood. But should we give up the thrill, and joy, of childlike scribbling in artistic expression and creativity?

Mio Pangfei's paintings have given us an answer. I would like to point out today when painting is becoming more and more of a profession and a trade, a commercial act, and the techniques of imitation more and more sophisticated, that it is really gratifying and thrilling to see Mio Pangfei's painting at will with such ease and simplicity.

And, of course, there are those reviews discussing how Mio Pangfei integrates Oriental tradition with the modern techniques of the West, and how he absorbs the Oriental spirit and plant it in national soil or merge it with national gifts. [...] But it is my unbending belief that theory is theory, literature is literature, painting is painting. [...] Heisenberg was right when he said: "All words and concepts no matter how clear they appear to be are nothing but a series of limited applications." Old Confucius** put it clearly: "Mingzhe shizhi binye, shizhe mingzhi benye" • ("Calling a space a space, it is the substance, neither appearance nor fame, that really counts").

When I am faced with Mio Pangfei's paintings I sense something like a wildness of primitive man, the innocence of the child; I feel the thrill of joy of impulsive scrawling, a visual delight, a spiritual delight, nothing but delight.

Double Ninth, • Biangzi Nian• [1996],

Buddha Manjusri's• Birthday

Translated from the Chinese by: Ieong Sao Leng, Sylvia 杨秀玲 Yang Xiuling

** Translator's note: Zhuangzi.

* Professor at the Shanghai Opera College, in Shanghai. Critic of fine arts.

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