Huang Guo Qiang in colour

 

“When the Sages of Antiquity and the First Kings accepted Heaven’s command and received the (divine) tablets they thereby came to hold the magic power in the Tortoise Characters and the proffered treasure of the Dragon Chart….. Then Creation could no longer hide its secrets….. At that time writing and painting were still alike in form and had not yet been differentiated.

Zhang Yanyuan (mid-9th century) “On the Origins of Painting” Taken from “Why Chinese Painting is History by Wen C. Fong (Fong, Wen C. “Why Chinese Painting Is History.” The Art Bulletin, vol. 85, no. 2, 2003, pp. 258–280. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3177344. Accessed 18 Feb. 2021.)

 

In his paper “Why Chinese Painting is History” Wen C. Fong explains “For the Chinese both the ideographic script and pictorial representation functioned as graphic signs (tuzai) that expressed meaning.” He goes on to say, “Rather than colour or light, the key to Chinese painting lies in its calligraphic line, which bears the presence, or physical ‘trace’ (ji) of its maker.”

 

Huang Guo Qiang is a Chinese master of line, brush and of colour. Born in 1932, he is of Chinese descent yet hails from the sleepy West Coast Malaysian town of Muar, described in the Encyclopaedia Britannica as “…a town and port on the southwestern coast of Peninsular (West) Malaysia”. Muar is where the Nanyang Chinese artist Liu Kang had sojourned when the Japanese invaded China in 1937, and was to later comment on Malaya’s Japanese occupation (1941 to 1945).

 

Huang Guo Qiang, like Liu Kang, had studied at the Muar Chung Hwa Secondary School and graduated from there, in 1949. Nineteen-fifty saw Huang Guo Qiang studying in Singapore’s Zhongzheng Middle School (by Singapore’s Zhongzheng lake), and stepping out for further studies in China.

 

In Huang Guo Qiang’s teens he had studied oil painting and had been influenced by the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters, especially the Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh and the French/Peruvian Paul Gauguin, like many of his South East Asian contemporaries.  A ‘Nanyang Style’ (or South China Seas style) of art, based on the fusion of Western (Parisian) and Eastern (Chinese) art styles with the addition of imagery from South east Asia grew as a fresh style of art, specifically in Singapore, and what later became Malaysia and being most active in the 1930s to the 1950s, but still relevant to the art of the region. Theoretically, Huang Guo Qiang could be counted in their number, but practically not.

 

Unlike the proponents of the Nanyang group of artists, where a distinct stylistic lineage may easily be traced back to European ‘Modernist’ artists, but more especially Gauguin, Huang Guo Qiang fully internalised Western ‘Modernist’ styles, making them his own. Those influences may be seen more clearly in Huang Guo Qiang’s ink, watercolour and oil (coloured) works like “Mom, Mom” and his images taken from the 500 Buddhist caves (Qianfodong, located in the desert, 15 miles south-east of the town of Dunhuang, north western China).  In “Lin Dunhuang Mural” his paintings sing not just with the eloquence of his line work, but with his sheer joy of colouration and, perhaps, a hint of magic.

Like those artist exponents of the Nanyang style of painting, Huang Guo Qiang deepened his love of China and traditional Chinese arts and culture in his sojourn at Chinese art school. His love for Western Modernism and for the arts of China melded, integrated within him, enabling him to look afresh at the world and at his creations.

 

   At the age of 21 (1953) Huang Guo Qiang left Malaysia (then called the Federation of Malaya), for China.  He relates that…

 

“The influence of Malaysia's geographical and cultural influences, the formation of my habits and hobbies, until now (I am now more than 80 years old), still remain. The loves of drinking coffee, eating durian and so on are still there. Malaysia is a peninsula with three sides facing the sea. My home was in the Straits of Malacca on the western side of that small country. Every day I could feel the majestic, broad, vast sea, experience ochre skin, warm eyes, equatorial bodies resonant with colour, for these are the characteristics of all living beings under the hot equator, strong, warm, simple, and naturally integrated into my heart, and have, naturally, become the root stone of my art world. This hot flame of the equator ignites the blazing passion of my heart and never goes out.”

 

Born in the sun-drenched tropics, Huang Guo Qiang absorbed the brightness and colouration of the land of his birth. This can be seen in his many outstanding works of colouration. Even in his works concerning Chinese ethnicities, or depictions of the Dunhuang Buddhist murals, there is colour vibrancy, a warmth of colour in which the viewer bathes. There are intimations of Zhang Daqian’s love of colouration too, as well as his love for the Buddhist mural paintings at Dunhuang. Like great artists before him, Huang Guo Qiang has acknowledged the good and the great of Chinese and Western painting, while developing his unique style of painting, grounded in traditional Chinese mediums as well as Western notions but is, perhaps, better known for his stunning Chinese ink and watercolour works.

 

Huang Guo Qiang’s coloured Chinese ink paintings have all the exuberance and magical grace of a combination of the two traditional Chinese ink and brush styles – ‘Gong-bi’ (meticulous) and ‘Xie Yi’ (spontaneous freehand style).  Coming from a Western art historical perspective, Huang Guo Qiang’s brilliant works have all the sparkle, and strength of line seen in Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Parisian art works and exciting modern coloured Chinese paintings, reminiscent of the grand Chinese artists Zhang Daqian (mentioned above) and Liu Haisu (founder of the Shanghai College of Graphic Art later to become the Shanghai Art School, in 1914), especially in works like Liu Haisu’s ‘Huangshan Landscape’ (1978) and  ‘Huang Shan mountain peak’ (1989). Lui Haisu, along with Lin Fengmian and Xu Beihong were instrumental in sharing their knowledge of Parisian artists, the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, especially Van Gogh and Cezanne.

 

While Tsinghua University was founded in 1911, and once housed scholars like   Fu Lei and Zhu Ziqing on its site in “Qing Hua Yuan (Tsinghua Garden)” which was the royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. China’s Central Academy of Arts & Design (CAAD), the art school Huang Guo Qiang attended, came into being several years later, in 1956. That is where Huang Guo Qiang enrolled to study ink art, book design and decorative art, in 1957. He graduated in 1960.

 

Beijing’s CAAD is now the Academy of Arts & Design (AADTHU), at Tsinghua University, Haidian District, Beijing. Huang Guo Qiang counts as one of the most honoured alumni. Huang Guo Qiang has served as the deputy director of the Department of Decorative Arts and book art; and has been the director of the foundation department, professor and member of the Academic Committee and title judging committee of the College.

 

Huang Guo Qiang is a former Director of Education of the Malaysia International Modern Art Group in China, as well as former Dean and Director of the School of Modern Art of Yunnan University, and former Vice President of the Hunan Zhengshan International School of Design and Art. Huang Guo Qiang is a member of the China Artists Association and a Director of the Beijing Art Education Society.

 

He has taught for more than 50 years, and is both an outstanding artist and a most revered educator. He has edited the book "Traditional Chinese Decorative Art", and has had the "Huang Guoqiang painting collection", and "Huang Guoqiang Painting Collection of Sketchs" published, and wells, "Huang Guoqiang Painting Collection of Soot Ink painting", and the "Huang Guoqiang Painting Collection of Coloured Ink characters".

 

Huang Guo Qiang has held exhibitions and academic lectures in Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, France, Austria, Germany and Hong Kong, as well as in Harbin, Beijing, Shanghai, Lanzhou, Weihai, Jinan and other places in China. His work "snow lotus" was selected by the Ministry of culture of China to participate in the 33rd International Monte Carlo painting exhibition in Morocco. His biography may be found in the "Chinese Artist Celebrity Dictionary", and in the "World Contemporary Painting and Calligraphy Dictionary". The Japan Xiangyang Society published, "Chinese Painter Named Kam". His works have been collected by a number of national museums, art centres, art academies and private collectors.

Last Year (virtually) in China

 

The Blue Lotus magazine Special Issue 5

 https://issuu.com/martinabradley/docs/the_blue_lotus_magazine_special_5

Think Again: an Art Critic in a Strange Land

I don’t really like being called an ‘art critic’, I much prefer the term ‘art writer’. Most of what I do is writing, rather than critique, however, on this occasion, having held back for some time I really do feel the need to have my little say.

 

I am a stranger here, in Siem Reap, Cambodia, which allows me to stand back a little more and observe. I have been coming here for nine years now, traveling to see artists, art establishments and art galleries in Battambang, Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. This one year sojourn has made me think a little more about my perceptions of what is happening here.

 

Battambang, in general, I felt was more open and welcoming to this writer stranger though, since my last visit, I have seen the arrogance of Phnom Penh seeping in. Because of external, and then internal, strife which Cambodia has suffered has sadly meant that most creative people in Cambodia are now in their 20s, 30s and 40s, with few wise heads to guide them in the notion of perfecting their art. This has largely been replaced by the arrogance of youth.

 

While being here, in Siem Reap, for a longer than usual stay, I have welcomed the potential to engage in the local ‘art scene’ and to get to know more about the artists and galleryists. Unfortunately, that has not happened. I have not been welcomed with open arms but, rather, kept at arm's length. Despite my best efforts to arrange meetings, to give the opportunity of interaction, my entreaties have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

 

On three occasions I did visit one gallery, which shall remain anonymous, but was far from welcomed. Before my third and final visit, I had requested one of my Khmer friends to accompany me. She declined. She intimated that she found the staff and atmosphere unwelcoming and, after trying to engage, she has given up. That is a shame, as my friend is an up-and-coming Khmer artist, with a heart. Dismissing her words as jealousy, I went for that final time and realised that she was right.

 

Is it a ‘thing’ now, to buy your own beverages and snacks at an art show opening? Well it does seem to be with one art gallery in Siem Reap. Free booze and free grub has always been a lure to see artworks. Having to buy your own, somewhat lessens the pleasure and, dare I say, the welcoming element of any art show. If I want to be ignored, and pay for overpriced wine and nosh, I’ll go to one of the few pubs still open during this pandemic era, without the need to be face to face with, or totally ignore, what’s on the walls. And, just maybe, we are starting to talk about the very same elitism which excludes the riff raff from galleries around the world.

 

When you force your audience to buy their own refreshments, you are making a judgement about your visitors, their priorities and your relationship with them. For wallet-laden expatriates, paying for a tipple and a nibble is certainly no hardship. For the rest of us, it is most off putting. And when I say drinks I mean soft drinks and water too.

 

While ‘artist talks’ are very much now a ‘thing’ with the artist getting the chance to tell you what you should be thinking about his or her artworks, there is more to art education than that. Art galleries, and some artists, in Cambodia have yet to learn the need for education, of themselves and of the public. One vital aspect of interaction between artist, galleryist and public is communication. What and how are you communicating?

 

More needs to be done in regard to educating the general public (perhaps your future buyers) about art, artists and the curating of both. Many places, and Cambodia is one of them, rely too much on the existing cognoscenti without a thought that they are a limited number with a limited time frame. Audiences must be grown by gentle interactions, subtle inferences and connections made between the created, the creative, the curators and the interested yet under-educated congregation. 

 

Attitudes which have separated the people from the artworks must change. Art galleries need to be more welcoming to their potential public and yes, the traditional welcome, free drink and free curly sandwiches are all part and parcel of that. 

 

I feel that I have been finger wagging here. I had moved away from that, but what I have experienced here in Cambodia, over the past year, with people reluctant to engage, galleries acting as pubs and young artists exhibited far too early in their careers has made me speak out.

 

I hope that this changes. I hope that artists and galleryists can find new ways to bring an art education to the general public, and that those currently involved in the art business remember that it is about art, more than business. If it is about business, then you really do need to look a little more at your communication strategies.

THE BLUE LOTUS 10th ANNIVERSARY

 

THE BLUE LOTUS 10^th ANNIVERSARY

 

The FREE online Asian arts and culture e-magazine Blue Lotus, is 10 years old. Art writer, researcher and author Martin Bradley founded the magazine, as a solo project, occurring online at Issuu and as a pdf, at a time when Malaysian art had no digital presence.

 

Began in June 2011 as Dusun (Malay for orchard), a bi-monthly magazine prompt for Malaysian art students, over the last decade Dusun has evolved from 50 pages, to 180 pages and has gained an international audience.

 

Slowly Dusun had become Dusun Quarterly and published four times a year, then in 2012, was rebranded as The Blue Lotus magazine to have a more international appeal, and take Asian art and culture as well as the creations of the Asian diaspora, globally.

 

Moving into the next decade, The Blue Lotus magazine endeavours to reach out to yet more Asian creatives, and continues to offer a platform for them to showcase and discuss their work.

 

Watch out for The Blue Lotus magazine's 10th anniversary issue, coming later this year…

 

Howling in Siem Reap

John Oh’s Expressive Fauvism

 

While in the West the nude in art dates back to ancient times (Egyptian, Greek and Roman), in the current Malaysian modernity there has been some tentativeness concerning the depiction of the unclothed female form.

There were occasions of semi-nudity, in paintings such as in Patrick Ng Kah Onn’s, “Spirits of the Earth, Sky and Water” (1959) and, despite nudes and semi-clad females (from Bali, Indonesia) being de rigueur to what was coined Nanyang Art (by Redza Piyadasa and T.K. Sabapathy, in 1979) and paintings by practitioners such as Cheong Soo Pieng (Balineses Girls, 1950s, or Long House Inhabitants, 1975), all this was before Malaya became Malaysia. Latter-day Nanyang artists, such as Tew Nai Tong (in the 1980s), and Kelantan’s Khalil Ibrahim (who, like Nai Tong, was also art schooled in the West) created ethereal sketches as well as watercolours (also in the 1980s) of East Coast beach women semi-clad.

Even the renown Choong Kam Kow, a ‘Modernist’ figure in Malaysian art, teacher and trend setter was required to ‘hide’ his nude artworks (from the 1960s) in a small room in Malaysia’s National Art Gallery, during his ‘Retrospective Exhibition’ (November 2014  - June 2015). Admission to the nakedness was by permission only.

John Oh has made the decision to reveal his ‘art school’ paintings in his first ‘solo’ art book, with images created some thirty years previously. Those paintings have stood the test of time well. With an Expressionistic/Fauve style that, simultaneously, recalls cartoon erotica, and John Oh excites our eyes with the dynamism of his strokes as well as the vividness of his colours.

The artist clearly understands colours and their effects on each other and on us (his audience), with poignant use of warm and cool colours he draws attention to his subjects with aplomb. His colours shimmer due also to the method of paint application, and the overall expressive effect is stunning, thought provoking, with all the playfulness of the American underground cartoonist and illustrator Vaughn Bodē (1960s – 70s).

Taking this in consideration, it is indubitably an act of bravery by John Oh (Jyh Neng) to consider publishing an edition with forty-five nude torsos of the female form (acrylic paint on ‘Arches’ watercolour paper), in a culturally ambivalent Malaysia and a world increasingly questioning concepts of ‘the male gaze’ and female nudity.