Once, Master Yun and I were in the lobby of a five-star hotel to attend a traditional Chinese painting exhibition.
A Caucasian was standing beside us. With her finger pointing towards the poem inscribed on a painting, she asked the organiser, “What is this?”
The organiser was unsure herself. She could recognise a few characters, but as the poem was written in classical Chinese, she could not decipher it.
Upon seeing this, Master Yun walked over and translated the poem into English.
Master Yun went on to explain that these poems are called tishi (poetic inscriptions). The traditional literato inscribes a poem, a few words or a few lines on his paintings to emphasise what is drawn.
The Caucasian was puzzled. Frowning, she asked, “Why inscribe poems? Can’t you appreciate a painting just by looking at what is drawn?”
Master Yun said with a smile, “The painting is a form of visual art, while the poem is a form of linguistic art. A Chinese painting lifts the audience to the realm of art through appreciation of its visual and its language.”
The Caucasian was utterly impressed by what she heard and exclaimed, “Chinese painting is such an incredible form of art!”
Standing beside Master Yun, I was deeply enthralled by his off the cuff explanation of poetic inscriptions. Although I have some understanding of Chinese painting and personally know some artists, I have never heard of such a simple yet profound explanation of “why the need for poems on paintings?” For many painters, you may ask why they inscribe poems on paintings, but they might not have thought about it and they are just following blindly what their predecessors have done.
After the Caucasian’s departure, Master Yun was still deep in thought.
I asked what was on his mind and Master Yun said: If we intend to bring the painting’s audience into the realm of art through appreciation of its language, how can we attain this if the poem is written in a language that they cannot comprehend?
Once, on a plane to Chongqing, Master Yun completed a couple poems based on a few folk tunes.
These poems were inscribed on Master Yun’s artworks.
Therefore, if you are to look at Master Yun’s painting, you will definitely understand its inscription, and you do not stop at understanding, you can even sing it.
Some might think that Master Yun’s inscribed poems are random works as they are written in simple language. On the contrary, Master Yun deliberated on the “poem’s” and “art’s” “intention” before coming up these conducts of art. This, is a performance art.
I have seen some artists, who upon completion of a painting, searches for related classical poetry on the internet and reproduces it on the painting. When painting bamboo, they copy a bamboo-related poem; when painting plum, they copy a plum-related poem. They have never wondered: “Why am I doing this?” “Have I achieved what I intended to?” “Do I have a better way of achieving my aims?”
On the other hand, Master Yun is one who has given much thought to his art, his life, his fengshui career and everything about Lotus on Water, including its staff…
Master Yun’s art are not created by his hands but his deep thoughts.
Master Yun is an artist, a performance artist, and a thinker-artist.
— Kan Ying Loong, Executive Director
(Translated)
(Originally posted here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1251784491560093&set=a.299478746790677.69188.100001856635147&type=3)
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