The Comfort of Solitude

By Lü Peng

At the ‘Southwest Modern Art Exhibition' in 1988 in the Sichuan Museum a painting called Three People Drinking Tea drew our attention. Fear and darkness characterized the atmosphere. The human figures were somewhat deformed and the composition did not follow the lines set forward by realism. Although we could get a clear view of the whole picture, the ‘teahouse' in the painting was in bad shape and the relationship between the figures was utterly strange. What caught the interest of the viewers was the applied technique which was different from the normal painting practices. The undercoat was done in advance and not at the same time. This special use of colours diverted the work not only from former expressionist paintings but also from the so-called “scar art”. 1988 was a year of commercial restlessness and social upheaval. The idealistic discourse was slowly being eroded, resulting in doubt and indecisiveness in the behaviour and minds of for example the young people sitting in the teahouses close to the school.

As the painter of Three People Drinking Tea , Shen Xiaotong (1968- ) was clearly a student of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. His participation in the ‘Southwest Modern Art Exhibition' was more a coincidence. At that time, the dynamic ‘85 movement was nearing its end with conceptualism becoming a popular trend in the cities. Scar art that had appeared eight years ago was now widely acknowledged as an artistic movement. In the middle of the 1980s, Sichuan 's modernism was recognized by some art critics in other cities as a later development. Some critics even used the term ‘native soil' to describe the art of the South western artists. At the ‘Southwest Modern Art Exhibition' in 1988, the paintings Growing Love of Zhang Xiaogang, The Escapers of Ye Yongqing and Head of Family by Mao Xuhui all revealed the predicaments of realism. Before this, the representatives of ‘New Space' Zhang Peili and Geng Jianjun, the Dada group of Xiamen with artists as Huang Yongping and with Gu Wenda and Wu Shanzhuan who had completely unravelled the structure of language, had already expressed their doubts about the validity of essentialism, although their attitude was explicitly realistic in nature.

Shen Xiaotong has clearly continued the logic of the post-70s modernism. When he enrolled in the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, he was not only familiar with artistic movements such as scar art and the ‘85 New Wave, but he also possessed a broad knowledge of Western modernist movements. Whereas older artists such as Zhang Xiaogang and Zhou Chunya only came to a thorough understanding of Western art after 1977, the young student Shen Xiaotong had already grasped the historical evolution of Western art from impressionism to realism in the middle of the 1980s.

When one is acquainted with the situation of artists born in the 1950s, one will naturally understand why scar art, driven by doubt, existential darkness and realistic concern has come to influence the younger generation of artists. When painting Three People Drinking Tea and Self-Portrait , Shen Xiaotong was clearly drawn towards the use of an expressionist language. Contrary to the relaxed but focused brushstroke of for example his teacher Ye Yongqing, Shen Xiaotong used a more complicated style for his particular language. He also distances himself from the introspective ‘El Greco' painting style of Zhang Xiaogang. His sombre atmosphere is more related to the surroundings that he is familiar with, for example the teahouses close to the university, than that it reflects his spiritual struggles. While Ye Yongqing studies the differences between urban and pastoral civilization, Shen Xiaotong only abides in the twilight of urban pollution. Since Scar Art, Sichuan artists have rarely used bright colours in their painting, submerged as they are in the grey and filthy cityscapes around them. Under the influence of modernism, they slowly developed their own style. Although artists in general don't like to admit that they have been influenced by any existing artistic movements, the impact of previous styles on Chinese artists can not be denied. It is in this period that Shen Xiaotong starts to show a special interest in language. The organic effect of the thinly applied colours adds a personal and individual touch to the paintings. The tension and coldness of the colour palette pins the mood of the painter to the canvas, thus reflecting his rather nonchalant attitude. Seen from this point of view we understand why the expressionism of Shen Xiaotong is a restricted expressionism with no realist concurrence.

From the very beginning Shen Xiaotong has shown a certain sensitivity to time. People's affinity with time arises from their ability to relate changes in their environment to time. Our observation of these changes is not an objective process but depends for the most part on our own experiences and judgement of those experiences. Already in 1988, Shen Xiaotong has developed a delicate time consciousness in his works Teahouse and Still Life . In Still Life the cup-shaped object in the middle of the composition is extremely instable. It is floating in the air as if driven by an invisible power. We easily discuss Shen's work by referring to his mental disposition. His sensitivity is intelligibly more perceptible in his spiritual approach and less in his technique. A reference to objectivity is not necessary; he only hopes to solidify his experiences related to time in a non-realistic space, or to say it in Kant's words, emotional experiences a priori unite in one goal. This goal is not a philosophical or theological concept. When we have lost control of our final goal, we should go back to the empirical world of our experiences. Only relying on the conclusions of our own experiences is however not sufficient. Even if we do not use some tiring philosophical statements, we still have to give expression to our own feelings using a language that we can understand ourselves. We believe that the emotions entailed by our own judgement are correct. Chair exhibited at the China Avant-Garde Art Exhibition of 1989 reveals this sensitivity. The artist tells us that objects manifest themselves differently depending on the moment they appear. These manifestations bear normally no relation to the ordinary experiences of reality. Li Xianting has once categorized Teahouse as a cynical realist work but he noticed that the rendering of the human figures on the painting was different from for example the laughing faces of Fang Lijun and Liu Wei. The faces of Shen Xiaotong have a dreamy and ignorant expression as if their mind is somewhere else. When facing reality, cynical realism deploys a very clear standpoint on reality. With a smile of non-resistance they criticize their surroundings. But Shen Xiaotong does not want to take up this position. According to him, we should still preserve a certain non-defined vigilance, even if we are not certain about the exact origin of our experiences,

At the ‘China Avant-Garde Exhibition' in February 1989, painting was only a minor point of interest for art critics and theoreticians. The major focus went to performance artists such as Xiao Lu, Tang Song, Wang Deren, Li Shan and Zhang Nian. The oil painting Bench of Shen Xiaotong was thus equally ignored by most people. For the ‘Seventh National Art Exhibition' he submitted the works Cowboy Bag and Dungarees , which were a continuation of his previous technique and style. They were however debarred from selection. This was also the period of several exhibitions of Western artists such as Antoni Tapies in China . In this time Shen Xiaotong started to attach more importance to the texture of his paintings. Because of his surrealist style and composition, his works like Chair can be considered as a synthesis of the dominant styles during the 85 New Wave. His technique revealed his interest in painting and continued the dominant trend of ‘depth' with artists living in Sichuan . His work Cowboy Bag can be seen as a pictorial description of his damaged soul. The painting is a non-material symbol, revealing an unstable and bewildered mind. There is no social or political focus; the artist's only concern seems to be the texture of the canvas and the treatment of details. There is a certain satisfaction in the way he minutely conceives his painting. This makes him stand aloof from other painters such as He Duoling, Luo Zhongli and Cheng Zhonglin who hold a different approach to the relationship between reality and life. Shen Xiaotong does not believe in the eternal value of things and in the expression of a universal human ‘self' as his predecessors do.

In the second half of 1989, Shen Xiaotong has made a large painting of a wall. The technical details and effects in this series, especially in Wall Behind My Back and Breaking Walls: Big Child exude a great visual power. In Home: A Forgotten Memory , we can see that the painter attempts to evoke the same aestheticism. The composition is surrealist, but it is a restricted form of surrealism that covers the canvas with a touch of melancholy. The use of colours is monotone; the grey functions like a broom that sweeps away all superfluous thoughts that could possibly be associated with a wall. Instead it gives room to some concrete images worth our careful reflection. A brush, a ball of thread, a letter, clothes, they are all obscure reflections of something called ‘home' and something called ‘memory'.

The Helpless Crowd is a painting created in the beginning of the 1990s. (He has made four works in total, but destroyed one in the end) This work is typical of the northern groups ‘The New Generation' and ‘Cynical Realism' who dismiss all mental questioning. The figures in this painting emanate ignorance, which is to be distinguished from the boredom associated with vagabondage. But whether it is the painter himself or other people that have a sharp insight of life, they can not disregard the fact that cultural reality is shaped by its surroundings. The Helpless Crowd represents a new kind of objectivism, in which the artist makes a proper adaptation of the magical and imaginative elements of surrealism. The reflections, overlapping images and floating slips of paper (envelopes) are an artistic preservation of the experiences or ‘memories' of the artist. This painting gives a synthesis of all the experimental elements present in the early works of Shen Xiaotong.

Shen Xiaotong is very well aware of the specific problems that life involves. After February 1989, all artists find themselves in the same situation. They lack a direction in life and are unable to meet their material needs. There is in fact no difference between the people sitting in the teahouse or coming from the teahouse. They all share the same feeling of being lost.

After a phase of formal expressionism, Shen Xiaotong soon abandoned the use of complicated colours typical of experimental realism in favour of the colour red. It is not that the artist is not concerned about the reality he is so familiar with; he rather wants to filter this reality through the use of symbols. He wants to abstract an idea from the objective reality. He wants to transfer the idea that the contents of our experiences are not simply determined by a theatrical styling. Experiences are only meaningful when they can bear the test of time.

Every person possessing a normal knowledge about Chinese history and society can easily understand the significance of the colour red. Although people might hold different opinions about the colour red, its significance endowed by history is likely to draw people to a common historical understanding and consciousness. The red painted surface and vigorous brushstrokes are expressions restrained to a limited period in time. Although the idealistic and metaphysical red is an omnipresent notion, the spiritual reaction that it evokes is but a momentary impression. Metaphorically speaking, red is like a dark cloud before the rainbow; although we are saturated in red, we know that it is only a temporary situation.

Red is the link between the reality and the past. It is a synthesis of our experiences, a mental indicator directing us towards a general emotional experience without political content. This proves that we can not simply put red in a historical context and unilaterally relate it with the Cultural Revolution.

Reality before 1995 had not yet completely separated itself from its metaphysical scope. Materialism was slowly seeping into society but it was difficult for artists to free themselves from the burden of history. Although a political content can clearly be attributed to the Red Series , the artist was not necessarily aware of this historical concern. He was as ignorant as one can be in a society in chaos that had lost its metaphysical soul. Restlessly wandering around society, the soul is drawn into a world of red shades. In such a monotone and unilateral world, the real significance of life is omitted or forgotten and the forms of objects and persons become of secondary importance. They are lost in the past and are strayed from the path to the future. This attitude is completely different from the artists of the 1970s. Shen Xiaotong's mental disposition is hovering between the ‘past' that he knows and the ‘present' that he lives in. How rational the works may be, the mind of the artist is inseparably bound to the past. This is what we call experiences related to the past. Symbols and metaphors are used to evoke this past; they make it possible to look back and to experience again what we once felt before.

People who have learned the lesson of modernism all know that past stories are of no importance anymore. One's perception is able to send a general impression of the story to the personal field of one's consciousness, leaving aside its physical boundaries. We can even ignore our own troubled subconscious anatomy and use the common experiences of the artists in order to gain a more universal spirituality. The exact filling of the red space is not important. Whether he paints some vague human figures, a realistic wall or a menacing scarecrow, they all stem from the memories of the artist. Experiences are no longer a barrier that covers their universal nature neither will one's soul be plunged in an abyss of abstraction. All this bears a close relation to our understanding of time and the human psyche.

Shen Xiaotong has reaped the profits of the work of the modernist artists in the 1980s. Understanding the aversion of Scar art to idle idealism, he never uses grand narratives in his paintings. Instead, ordinary people enter the canvas. This shows his awareness of the dullness and plainness of life. In his understanding of the intentions and inner goals of modernism, he has abandoned the realist technique of experimentalism and has started to use an expressionist brush stroke. Finally, because he trusts the sharpness and importance of his feelings, he didn't want to experiment with more formalist styles and has adhered to his own familiar expressionism.

The red series titled Diary: My Landscape is the harbinger of his change from modernism to a more personal style. In this series the artist has retained the sentimental character and the corresponding objective expressionist technique but it is hard to see in this preservation a conservation of past thoughts and feelings. We should rather see it as a settlement of and respect towards past experiences. From his works we can easily deduce the artist's conclusion as an elimination of the tracks of his experiences. By using a monotone colour palette he thus questions the authenticity of materialism. His later works also reveal this way of expression: vagueness of forms, simple colours and the absence of a realistic topic. All these characteristics refer to the rejection of the triviality and abnormality of people's experiences and to the narration of a universal state of mind on the canvas. (Part 2)