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'The Way of Traditional Chinese Ink and Landscape Painting and the Sublime’ 

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'The Way of Traditional Chinese Ink and Landscape Painting and the Sublime’ 

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is a practice-led research project undertaken by Georgina Hooper during 2017 at the University of Canberra, Australia. This program of research has been undertaken with the supervision and guidance of Dr. Patrick Mitchell (Supervisor) and Dr. John Dahlsen (Supervisor).

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This project investigates the sublime and seeks to know if an experience of it can be achieved through the way of traditional Chinese landscape painting.

It proposes that through cross-cultural fertilization with the East an enriched understanding of the sublime experience can be formed and felt. Furthermore, this research seeks to deepen an understanding of the nature of artistic practice and its potential for transformation. The practitioner-researcher will be guided by practical and theoretical research on the conditions of the sublime with a particular focus on Burke’s ‘vastness’ and Hegel’s ‘one absolute substance’ as the subject. Through a meditative artistic practice directed and defined by the principles of traditional Chinese landscape painting and its focus on the metaphysical the practitioner-researcher moves to connect with something higher. Conditions for the exhibition of the resulting body of work will be set up to entice viewers into an immersive experience that echoes the artist’s creative process, experiences and findings.

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A diverse range of professional quality traditional Chinese materials were acquired from Hong Kong. Working with this collection of various rice-papers, inks and brushes will mark the beginning of an experimental process. Setting up the studio space however is highly important. Time invested in this process before brush is put to paper is a vital. It allows for contemplation and personal preparation in the creative process.

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8 June

Day

11:00-12:30

Painted in a calmer mood.

The daylight felt a better light to paint in and I felt refreshed.

Less negative or critical thoughts.

Painted into last night’s work.

Felt much more creative freedom.

Worked with meditative music by Kelvin Mockingbird.

This set a calmer tone and my concentration was better.

I worked with Indigo colour

Contouring spaces.

This honed my concentration.

By not having any thought as to what I was painting, I had a much more enjoyable practice.

Feeling elevated mood, increased sense of peace and slowness afterwards.

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Such mastery!
(click on image to see larger scale)
http://www.comuseum.com/painting/landscape-painting/

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Very excited by the discovery of this website. A rich resource on Chinese landscape paintings for me to refer to during my research.
http://www.comuseum.com/painting/landscape-painting/

Something in Shitao's Cloudy Mountains resonates with my aesthetic.

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"Also in the Northern Song, the seeds of a different notion of the purposes of painting were taking root in the minds of a small circle of intellectuals led by the great poet Su Shi (蘇軾). Su Shi formally theorized the revolutionary idea that the purpose of painting was not representation but expression. To Su Shi and his circle, the aim of a landscape painter was not to evoke in viewers the feelings they would have if they were actually wandering in the mountains, but rather to reveal to friends something of the artist’s own mind and heart. This became the fundamental principle of literati painting (文人畫)".
http://www.comuseum.com/painting/landscape-painting/

(Below)
Fan Kuan, Travelers Among Mountains and Streams.

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Burke's Vastness and Ch'an Buddhism's 'Great Void

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Burke's Vastness and Ch'an Buddhism's 'Great Void

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A group of Chinese painters from the Sung period belonged to the Ch'an school of Buddhism. This philosophical school of thought can be seen as rooted in their artistic activity. It is here that I have great interest in their understanding of the 'nature of existence', the 'Suchness of Reality' which is also described as 'The Great Void'. Furthermore their use of space in composition and the suggestion of the illimitable and incalculable. My experiments and research will explore this. The strong ties to mediation in Ch'an philosophy also are of note and interest here.

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Anthony Day suggests illimitable space here. I might also explore multiple perspectives and passage, monochromes and forms emerging from raw linen or canvas.

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"Wisdom is buried in your own unconscious. Excavate it by your proper efforts." A quote about the Ch'an Buddhist approach to Chinese landscape painting practice from the text by Siren.
My daily practice and its associated self-reflections I hope to be the "proper efforts". Today yielded me some pleasing results. Still working on lined 'practice paper' and enjoying the compositional effects of the red lines and strong grain. I am beginning to think that these experiments will form the plans for large scale oils

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This TED talk by Pico Iyer has informed this research. Iyer states "no where is magical unless you can bring the right eyes to it" he goes on to say "I find the best way to develop more attentive, more appreciative eyes was oddly, by going nowhere, just by sitting still".
https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_the_art_of_stillness

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'He must do his work with his whole soul" Liu Tsung-yuan (as cited in Siren, 2005, 45)

First studio session.
60 minutes of meditative painting.
7 June.

During the initial painting session an internal rhetoric of questions and self-doubts were observed.

·      Will I be able to convey a sense of the sublime?

·      I have set myself a very hard task

·      Does this look sublime?

·      What colours look sublime?

As the masters predict when a painter has a ‘distracted spirit’ the resulting work is “obscure and evasive without vigour” Liu Tsung-yuan (as cited in Siren, 2005, 45).

On conclusion of the session15 minutes in silence allowed a number of questions to bubbled up.

·      When have I had an experience of the sublime?

·      Terror in nature?

My mind went to the first time I truly learnt the power of the ocean. I was ‘dumped’ as it is know. Tumbled, held down by the force of a wave. Confused, lungs bursting and unsure of when I would be let up, moments where I feared for my life. Terror? Yes

I then considered the conditions of the sublime once more. Did I have an elevated feeling as a consequence? No. In this instance, the experience was too unpleasant, too frightening. However following this was perhaps a new way of seeing the ocean.

My mind probed for more experiences.

Certainly the ocean is where I have felt that slight terror which peaked my senses and elevated my mind and body.

Diving, snorkelling or swimming in deeper seas. Feeling small in the abysmal body of surrounding water, yet encompassed in it. Fearing of the unknown and the unseen.

But this slight terror was mixed with the sensorial joy of swimming and exploring the extraordinary depths. The taste of salt, the fresh cool water on my skin. The feeling of floating. The undulating rocking of the waters movement carrying me to and forth. The jewel-like coral and fish, the sparkle of the sunlight, dispersed making playful dancing shapes.

This oscillation between pleasure and terror. The search for the sublime continues.

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Should one paint every day regardless of the state of mind and one's energy? Lui Tsung-yuan (773-819) (as cited in Siren, 2005, p.45) warns against painting when one can not work with one's whole soul. For this reason, theoretical research is generally conducted in the studio in instances of tiredness or distractedness to ensure that a daily connection with practice is maintained. This has consequently helped at times to focus the mind before practice which is undertaken at night when day time sessions are missed.

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Working with light and paper.

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Shining light through wet ricepaper  to give this effect. Work has been photographed and cropped to make for a plan of a 1.5m squared oil on linen. Plans to prime a section but leave part of the linen raw