画里话外

Inside and Outside of the picture story

Tao Zhengwei (陶征魏)

As we come to be able to obtain graphic images with ease in contemporary society, we concentrate on standardizing and reproducing those images. We are often drawn by those images and indulge in pleasure brought about by such images. Walter Benjamin wrote in his book, “I don’t really know what I want to think about. That’s why my entire thoughts are crammed with restless fluid images.”

As such, we have consistently pursued the new and reconstructed to do away with the old. This is modernity. As a contemporary artist, I have constantly asked myself questions concerning the end of my pursuit.

Ultimately, painting is a product of mind. As a painter my work concentrates primarily on material and expression. Material or subject matter is either a mode or a monologue revealed in my life. It indicates an object’s environment and state in a specific time. In my previous work I intended to construct self-anatomical scenes by mainly merging the sociality intrinsic to each object with my experience while in my new work I metaphorically represent elements based on my amassed experiences. I search for elements in which an individual’s understanding of objects and socially perceived concepts coincides with the subject I try to express. I construct my scenes with these elements. I consider these elements can be alluring subject matter in the creation of paintings.

When I became an art teacher after graduation, my awareness of painting and survival experience underwent a new change. As a result, my work also went through changes. I felt the influence of time and paid heed to the existence of minute life. I experienced a being’s journey from flowers and plants that grow thick but soon wither away. I try to represent traces in time when I stay by lending an object’s individuality and sensibility as well as its peculiarity to my work.

I don't think my work is immaculate. Many assert that we cannot create the new without destroying the old. I also believe we cannot shatter the old without establishing the new. I regard technique as an expressive element of creation and the fruit of our aesthetic experience. I would not seek any expedient or shortcut. I pursue only one thing in my lifelong endeavor, even if it is slow in progress.