Huang Yi-Ming - "Autumn Ripples, Clear Mind" Solo Exhibition

Text and images by Chen Chi-Hsiang. Hosted by Shang Gallery. Venue: 6th Floor, Chang Jung Foundation for the Arts, Taipei. Dates: December 10, 2017 to February 11, 2018.

"To learn from ancients is not as good as learning from nature; to learn from nature is not as good as learning from the heart."

Preface: Ink painting has long lacked a spirit and attitude that advance with the times. Tradition should be the driving force that inherits the past and opens up the future, allowing creation to nurture new life within cultural heritage. The artistic value of each era lies in creation; the greatness of the world is formed by creativity. Both modern and experimental ink painting intend to find their respective contemporaneity, value, and significance.

The Reformer of Contemporary Taiwanese Ink Painting – Huang Yi-Ming: Huang Yi-Ming (born 1952 in Yilan) is one of the reformers of contemporary Taiwanese ink painting. He blends the boldness of stele calligraphy with the elegance of model-book calligraphy, refining textured modern ink paintings through over forty years of calligraphic exploration. Under the principle that calligraphy and painting share the same origin, starting from the essence of calligraphic culture, lines ranging from masculine to elegant are the core of his ink creation. He is also a rare creator who steps out of the narrow gate constrained by traditional calligraphy. Using subjective consciousness, he deconstructs traditional calligraphic characters through conscious, unconscious, or subconscious means, then reconstructs the forms and compositions of brush and ink lines, pioneering imagery, mental images, and abstract modern ink vocabulary and style within his broadened mind, intending to update various possibilities of modern ink painting. Through the dialectics of Dao following nature and Yin-Yang, within the structural contrast of black and white Yin-Yang, and among the differences in lines, he independently creates meaning through qualitative analysis of brush, ink, form, and intent, as well as diverse positioning, elucidating the perceptions and insights of the painter’s life.

The Artist Says: "I combine the vastness and thickness, roughness and clumsiness from stele studies with the refinement, fluency, vigor, and variety from model-book studies, allowing them to interact rhythmically. Amidst undulating and scattered shapes and different rhythms, I elucidate the mutual blending and harmony of Yin and Yang. Starting from accumulating different structures from legible characters, I use more pure lines to accumulate different meanings while detaching from inherent forms to reconstruct anew, hoping to express new imagery based on diverse life experiences, social cognition, and reflections on the surrounding environment." (Note 1).

Huang Yi-Ming’s creative thought stems from Laozi and Zhuangzi, the dialectics of Dao following nature and Yin-Yang, and the Confucian concepts of withdrawing from and engaging with the world. His abstract ink painting intuitively and subjectively creates possibilities, incorporating Western elements and rigorous structure. His ink works lack the grand landscapes or poetic flower-and-bird figures of tradition; they only depict the realm of natural hills and valleys in his heart. The artist says: "My works are a linear expression primarily based on calligraphic lines, supplemented by ink variations. They are non-figurative creations derived from perceivable people, events, and things, yet they add more dimensions (from conscious to unconscious to subconscious) onto a figurative (perceivable) foundation, constituting an abstract expression. Through rich, expressive lines and appropriate ink, they form a philosophical abstract expression: positioning the relationship between heaven, earth, and humanity, and the principles of all existence, within the space of black and white." (Note 2).

Huang Yi-Ming’s abstract ink painting is not merely a game of rigorous formal structure. The titles of his works reference existential life philosophy and situations, manifesting a concrete natural imagery. Calligraphy and painting become his experience of existing in time and space, along with autobiographical inspiration and expectations. His ink paintings are divided into two major series: First, writing-style blank spaces, using black to define white, using white to transform scenery, and structure to show realm. Second, using white to take black, using black to reveal scenery, creating diagrams and realms within vigorous and varied lines.

"Hills and Valleys in the Heart" Solo Exhibition "Autumn Ripples, Clear Mind": The entire exhibition centers on "Full Growth After Frost" (2016), a panoramic view filled with powerful brush strokes, crisscrossing and undulating lines, blended and contrasted with wet washes and splattered dots of atmospheric charm. Lively clouds, mist, and moisture, showing full growth after frost, depict the scene of forest trees in the morning. "Unfolding" (2013) is a large-scale work deconstructing the structure of calligraphic characters, presenting abstract calligraphic imagery where powerful strokes and diffused atmospheric charm undulate and scatter into graceful and magnificent postures, releasing boundless huge energy and unique thick and majestic visual thinking abstraction, showing the magnificent realm of hills and valleys in the calligrapher’s heart.

Lyrical Expression – Elegant and Soft Linear Structure Series: Works like "At Ease" (2016) adopt an unattached creative attitude, composing disparate and scattered fine lines that echo natural rhythms, metaphorically expressing the creator’s existential sentiment. Refined and minimalist brush lines, such as the inspired "Acceptance," "Change," and "Pure Realm" (2017), are purified expressions of existential situations. "Advance," with its triangular composition and a diagonal line across the top, signifies the painter steadily moving forward on a slope, all elucidating the calligrapher’s delicate understanding of overall life. "Joyfully" and "Contemplation" (2017) are abstract works featuring rough and clumsy large lines crossing above and below, contrasting with refined and fluent atmospheric brushwork. Within rigorous structure, they are simple and moist, with clear rhythms, deepening the overall artistic expression.

This solo exhibition’s title comes from "Autumn Ripples, Clear Mind" (2017), which elucidates the painter’s state of mind. On thick ink lines full of power and thickness, drops of sensitive light ink create mottled patterns, releasing vitality and poetry, hovering between imagery, abstraction, and mental images. Two works depicting red autumn ripples, "Maple Leaves Have Turned Red" (2016) and "Maple Leaves" (2016), reflect the painter’s realization: "I like the atmosphere of autumn. In autumn, my heart becomes quieter. I miss the past and anticipate the fruits of harvest. In this waiting season, I become delicate and sensitive, caring not only about climate change but also about every little thought. I record it with stele and model-book lines, from golden falling leaves to sprouting again, this endless cycle of life." (Note 3).

Imagery works that reveal scenery through black include "Vase with Flowers" (2015), where a white triangular vase against a black background contrasts with the atmospheric charm of fairies scattering flowers on the vase, blended with wet drops of sensitive light ink to present vibrant and brilliant floral imagery. "Hope" (2016), using black to take white, depicts a pitch-black sky with dazzling stars (white dots), signifying hope in life or the light guiding life in the dead of night. "Restless Heart" (2017) features gradient light ink densely dotted with black spots of varying sizes, presenting the playful transformation of ink and a sense of downward flow, driving the restless heart and elucidating the painter’s state of mind and sentiment.

Note 1: Stele and Model Book Reflections – Huang Yi-Ming Artbook, 2013. Note 2: Huang Yi-Ming Brief Autobiography, 2013. Note 3: Huang Yi-Ming - "Autumn Ripples, Clear Mind" Solo Exhibition Press Release.