Man with no face transports viewers
Updated: 2015-06-22 10:06
By Wen Chihua(For China Daily)
|
||||||||
[Photo provided to China Daily] |
Most scenarios in Lao Shu's paintings have a touch of the unworldly amid mundane depictions of daily life. In another painting, Mr Minguo is shown leaving a farmer's market with a Chinese cabbage in his arms, close to his body, as if holding a bouquet to give to his lover. The verse for the painting reveals Mr Minguo's internal monologue: "Coming into the farmer's market, I catch sight of a cabbage. It looks smooth and tender. I take it home to love."
One critic said having a poem along with a painting suggests that the painting is not powerful or expressive enough by itself.
Lao Shu disagrees. "Painting," he says, "is a visual expression. A poem is a conceptual expression. In classical Chinese brush painting - the most prestigious form of Chinese art, and the province of the literati for centuries - a poem, some calligraphy and the drawing always go together. The relationship of text to the painting is not one interpreting the other. Rather, it's that one is complementing the other. Like the relationship of a pair of chopsticks to a rice ball, the chopsticks cannot make a rice ball larger, and the rice ball cannot provide the chopsticks with any rice. Yet, a rice ball and a pair of chopsticks can be artistically matched perfectly."
Indeed, Lao Shu's work is a new take on literati painting that has changed something innate in the medium.
- Thailand still faces risk of MERS: official
- 21 civilians injured as blast hits Afghan parliament
- Taliban attack on Afghan parliament widely condemned
- EU launches naval operation against human smugglers
- Russia, China do not form blocs against anyone: Putin
- No daily MERS cases, deaths added in S Korea
- Liu visits Houston Museum of Natural Science
- Liu meets Tsinghua Youth team in Houston
- Liu visits CI in Pittsburgh
- Shenzhen Maker Week kicks off
- Chinese wrap up Zongzi to mark upcoming Dragon Boat Festival
- A Chinese Garden in a Sister City
- Across America over the week (June 12-18)
- Liu meets Intel CEO
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Seventh China-US strategic dialogue |
Premier Li embarks on Latin America visit |
What do we know about AIIB |
Full coverage of Boao Forum for Asia |
Annual legislative and political advisory sessions |
Spring Festival trends reflect a changing China |
Today's Top News
Liu Yandong plays basketball diplomacy
Wang Yang hails S&ED
Tsinghua students flying high
Chinese Premier emboldens state firms' int'l industrial cooperation
CI in Pittsburgh welcomes
vice-premier
Sichuan and Pittsburgh unveil
new school
Russia, China do not form blocs against anyone: Putin
More than 'greet'
and 'meet'
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |