Han Li Kun

Time and spatial transcendence of stone painting

By Hang Sup SHIN, art critic

Human beings have an innate tendency to recreate. We are driven by the urge to draw or to mold an image that peaks interest. This impulse to reproduce an image proved no exception for the primitive man. Ancient murals found in the cases dating of tens of thousands of years and the earliest clay figurines are testament to this. And it is no wonder that modern art finds inspiration in these primitive renditions. The artistic sensibility found in the simplicity of form has struck a cord with modern aesthetics.

The subject of Han Likun's painting is the primitive rock painting. To be even more specific, his works portray engravings rather than painted murals. They feature hieroglyphic spells and enchantments. There are Chinese characters, poetry and monumental inscriptions; there is even a work that resembles a fossil embedded in a stone wall. The subject of Han Likun is working realistically; sometimes, the bodies are fragments as if yielded by nature itself. The realism of his works is astonishing, with the eyes deluded into thinking that one sees an actual archaeological find. Realism, prevalent in the Western style of painting where is faithfully and truthfully reproduced, is used to render artwork that is difficult to distinguish from the actual.

Realism is the realm of Western style of painting, and is virtually foreign in Chinese art. Multiplying one's wonder is that Han Likun does not solely rely upon the skillfulness of his paint brush, but that utilizes woodblock printing to render this incredible realism. He uses techniques intrinsic to printmaking, such as rubbing impression, and combines them with a plethora of modern printmaking techniques to break from traditional expressions defining Chinese art. In all aspects, Han Likun is ground-breaking in transcending stylistic and technical attributes of Chinese painting. And there is no precedence for this level of realism employing printmaking in Western paintings.

A closer examination shows that his realistic depiction is more fastidious than what a painted work would yield. Blending ink with paint on China paper allows for a more subtlety in expression. The grainy texture of the stone surface is replicated meticulously. The consummate craftsmanship of Han Likun has achieved a level of perfection approaching the status of a deity. At the same time, one should not overlook the genius behind the daring creativity that juxtaposed the woodblock printing with other means of artistic expression, and in so doing create an entirely original world, attempted by no one.

This is irrefutably creative art in that it treads on ground untested, an absolutely new creation that cannot be achieved with mere excellence in craftsmanship. What is the significance of Han Likun’s works? First of all, his works have expanded Chinese art via his departure from traditional forms and modeling. His experiment in mixing ink with paint, harmonizing traditional and modern, juxtaposing Chinese and Western aesthetics, and employing both painting and woodcut are indications that he has broadened the horizon of Chinese art in integrating the traditionally considered contradictory modeling concepts and styles within a single canvas.

Han Likun’s works allows us an entirely new visual experience. Despite the gap between style and medium, he masterfully harmonizes, diminishing the boundary between Eastern and Western aesthetics, and making it irrelevant. While he values the traditional merits of Chinese painting, he widens the visual language of the genre to fling open the door to creative possibility. The realism of his works transports us to another space at another time. But Han Likun does not stop with simply deluding our eyes; he draws our attention to the rudimentary quality of the painting. He has us appreciate the naivety with our instinct rather than by training. It is not through grasping formal and stylistic techniques, but appreciating the fundamentals of life? of survival and of the early man 's supplication to a higher being. One need not forage a particular stylistic attribute that marks the work; this master evokes awe in creating a beauty of the purity of the image of a stone painting.

But his chief object is not to explore different means of rendering realism. Depending on specific works, he emphasizes the expressiveness of the ink and brush, not forgetting the importance of brushstroke in the genre. Perhaps this is the rationale behind why he chooses to juxtapose the flora of the ink-brush painting with the image of rock painting. He substitutes the traditional oriental flora, including the Japanese apricot tree, orchid, bamboo, pine and lotus, with an ancient stone wall to provide an effective backdrop of his work.

Han Likun's subject-primitive writing and inscriptions-is appropriate in modern art and aesthetics. The juxtaposition of ink-brush painting creates a new value. He closes the gap between the ancient and modern art, and elevates him as an eye on ten.

The persuasiveness of Han Likun's works lies in their appeal to our primitive instinct and rudimentary expression. And they transport us to a unfamiliar realm of new experience.