This is not 传统, and neither is it当代

 This is not 传统, and neither is it当代 is a mixed-media assemblage comprising four smaller works: This is not 明白 , This is not 东西, This is not艺术, This is not好玩. Respectively, the Chinese phrases may translate to mean, “understanding”, “thing” or “east-west”, “art”, and “fun”. They are all part of an ongoing “This is not…” series which experiments with connections between Chinese and Euro/american art. Here, ideas and techniques from Magritte and Foucault are combined with Chinese characters to play with reflections on the boundaries and definition of art, and translational issues.

The assemblage emphasises on the informality of the works, defying both “traditional” Chinese and Western “convention” that “art” has to be properly and formally framed or mounted in its presentation to be acknowledged. It questions the status and purpose of art and tradition, and especially on ideas of propriety. At the same time, this work also deliberately challenges and undermines ideas on “contemporary” art and its unresolved forms, for the work also refers to the process of how “traditional” ink works are practiced. This work teases about how “contemporary” art often generalises “tradition” in referring to it as a source, questioning its interpretation and lack of what is traditionally meant as “understanding”, “thing” or “east-west”, “art” (especially technique or skill), and “fun”. The work questions the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity in art with its title, which means, “This is not traditional, and neither is it contemporary”. The mix of language here is to highlight the fallacy of the common assumption about Chinese ink works that tradition is necessarily Chinese and contemporary is necessarily Western.

The use of wax here refers to the Chinese saying, “瞎子点灯—（不）浪费蜡[1]”, which means, “the blind lighting a lantern – a waste of wax (or not)”. The blind lighting a lantern might be deemed as an act of wasting wax, since the blind would be unable to see anyway, but it is arguably not a waste because the light would allow others to see the blind person. Here, wax is an analogy for resources, effort, and time, and blindness refers to one’s bias and prejudices. These are applied to the questions the artwork raises and explores, such as whether or not the named concerns and ideas are worth pursuing and on the prejudices between the perceived dichotomy between traditionality and contemporaneity. For example, some advocating for “western contemporary art” may denounce the “traditional” and “technical”, and vice versa, but when one attempts something that one deems worthless, one might find that the endeavour illuminating after all.

Artwork dimensions: 30.5 (h) x 61 (w) x 2 (d) cm x 2 and 30.5 (h) x 61 (w) x 4 (d) cm x 2
Materials: Mix media including Chinese ink, paper, wax, canvas, acrylic.

[1] https://www.zhengjian.org/node/119857

Other Relevant References

Foucault, Michel. This is not a Pipe. Translated and edited by James Harkness. California: University of California Press, 2008.

Cai, Heng, “Tradition Unfettered” in Siapa Nama Kamu. Edited by Low Sze Wee. Singapore: National Gallery Singapore, 2015. 68 – 89.

This work was presented at Explorations, 02 February - 24 February 2019, Lim Hak Tai Gallery, at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.