【Article】Zhu Zhu：Resetting the Foundation

The “Improvisation” series by Zhang Fan is a collection of works that say “no” to the modern times. The basis for this rejection lies is Zhang's conviction that contemporary abstract paintings is now either relying on hard work to give meaning or substituting the concept of work for meaning. “I believe that finishing a piece of work through labor is wonderous”, “In theory, anyone can make a painting - they merely have to repeatedly apply a simple mechanical action to an object to produce such a miracle”. Such “miracles” seek to cover up the fact that spirituality has gradually been lost, and that abstract paintings have become products of graphic and industrial design.

If one looks carefully at what is happening one sees that large numbers of abstract works are being produced on a daily basis, and this is exactly what Zhang is objecting to, with the appearance and texture of refinement, distinctive personal symbols and forms (even though the latter is perhaps less obvious). After many long years of labor to perfect style and techniques, at some moment these paintings might manage to permeate our conscious, and when that day arrives, the painter is then proclaimed to be established - this isn't just the pattern in China, it is also true internationally. The term “Zombie Formalism” emerged precisely to satirize those artists “making the process-based abstract paintings so unbearable.” [1]

Just saying “no” is easy. However, it might also be dangerous. The liability is that in investing oneself in the logic of opposition, one's self might become dissolved in what one is opposing (that is in the painting). More precisely, the problem can be put as follows: by exhaustively studying particular propositions in sociology or art phenomenology, one's ideas and expressions easily become confined by them. This can be seen as a sort of reversed imprisonment, but it still remains a form of imprisonment. Such an opposition feeds the passion for confrontation, but does not guarantee an artist’s legitimate self-construction. Fortunately the artist is not just saying “no” to the present, but also to his past self. Moreover, the base on which he relies to say “no” is the tradition that we long to redeem.

Once Zhang Fan was faithful to the modernist style in abstract art. Inspired by Barnett Newman and Rothko, Zhang's early grid series stays within this classic framework. This is manifest in the vertical structures and fine texture, reflecting his “solemn and sublime pursuit of painting.” Had he continued in this tradition of painting, even though he might have been passed by some of the trends in abstract art in China, over time he would still have won his place and taken part in important exhibitions and collections. But when his understanding of abstract art changed, he had almost to begin again from nothing. This was neither through of lack of patience nor because he wished to revenge himself in the face of the success of other artists. His one and only catalyst was the desire to return to the fundamentals of art - he wants to discover the possibility of abstraction inherent in the tradition of Chinese paintings.

The series of “Mountains and Streams” and “Scroll of Water” demonstrates how he strives to eliminate elements that were merely visually pleasing, in order to return to tradition. While the “Improvisation” series shows his desire to abandon the implication of the imagery and to work towards Su Shi's advocacy of “expressionism of calligraphy”. [2] In simple terms, over the last seven or eight years, he has gradually reinterpreted the history of traditional art in a self-trained manner. As he says:

The relationship between my works and the Song paintings is like Yin and Yang. My original intention was to eliminate the forms. The two series “Mountains and Streams” and “Hand Scroll of Water” are the result based on my philosophy of painting. From the early criss-crossing grids in paintings, to the hard texture of vertical structures, then the complete elimination of the order of geometry in the picture - building the structure of abstraction by a physical order covered by several layers and blanks in turn. Through the development of these phases, when all direct visual symbols vanish, the only thing that can be felt is the mood. This mood contains a touch of Northern Song Dynasty paintings. Therefore, I used the title of “Mountains and Streams” for the reference. Because of the simple descriptive painting methods of this series, I couldn’t express as much as I like, and I hope all the information can be distilled and have the physical and emotional state accurately expressed in a single moment, so the “Hand Scroll of Water” series began to contain a little of “writing”. In the “Picking Flowers In Reclusion” and “Improvisation” series, I entirely applied this method of “writing” in painting. The process is similar to the development of the philosophy of Chinese painting.

This process can be construed as “Qi Xi” (the theory of energy) or “stroke is everything” - this can be understood as Zhang going back to appropriate from ancient tradition. For, as soon as “writing” became the main theme of Zhang’s work, the cool descriptive and stylistic brushwork of his early works vanished to be replaced by passionate and rough strokes. This is quite obvious in the paintings “Picking Flowers In Reclusion” and “Improvisation”. And if throughout this metamorphosis the business of making a painting still existed in his consciousness, in the “ Improvisation” series Zhang delivered himself to the “currents of emotion” [4]. The title of this series hints at the specifics of the creative process: the speed of execution was extremely fast - a four-meter by two-meter canvas completed in just an hour. The lines across the tableau mimic the movements of ancient cursive calligraphy - whilst barely resembling the shape of any Chinese character, they still appear undulating and coherent. From Zhang’s point of view, the lines endow the work with a coordinated sense of rhythm, detail, texture, emotion etc., and that such elements spontaneously emerge in the process of “writing”.

In this system of doing things, “hard work” is “banished” from the painting and can no longer be used as a substitute for intrinsic artistic worth. It must assume its rightful place: huddling in the hundreds of wasted canvases that are swept into the corner of the studio. “Hard work” belongs with daily “practice”, whilst a painting deemed to be finished may be associated with a kind of “epiphany” and “arrival”. Of course, one might endeavour to understand the “Improvisation” series in a more profound manner. For the works that one considers as finished remain approximations to the ideal - compared with all the wasted paintings, the difference is apparent. After all, they correspond to an enlightened state of self, instead of reaching an absolute height in terms of brushwork, skill, or temperament. Rather than of steadfastly clinging to the basis of Classicism, they seem to consistently manifest some unruliness. No doubt they resemble a wavering arrow– at risk of falling to the side of formalism, inherent in the near perfect creation in tradition and the possibility of its transformation.

March, 2018

[1] Nicholas Chittenden Morgan: “Zombie Formalism, 1970-2016”. Published in Artforum China on December 7, 2016.

[2] Maggie Bickford: “Ink Plum”, Chapter 6. Jiangsu People's Press, May 2012 edition. 

[3] Zhang Fan's interview with Ginkgo Space.

[4] Su Shi: “Praise of Wen Yu Ke’s Ink Paintings of Bamboo on Screen”