The Island & Ocean - Solo Exhibition of Li Ying-Ru

Ocean-like Ink Reveals the Real Me

Hsu, Hui-Chih

    The ink paintings by Yu Peng have shown fascinating garden scenes, including piles of stone, bowers, flowers, plants, birds, and animals, as well as girls and boys, women and men, which express senses of the late Ming Dynasty.

    The ink paintings by Yu Peng sometimes show rivers, mountains, and the earth. Rivers all flow into one stream, and fishing boats floating on the water and fishers live on them. To be the Peng (a legendary giant bird), the wings are like the cloud in the sky; the Peng spreads its wings to hike waves. The scenes change within one moment in time.

    When I watched the ink paintings by Yu, I wondered whether the scenes were illusions. An illusion is from emptiness to existence. Disappearing is from existence to emptiness. The world created by Yu, between emptiness and existence, can feel the integration of myself, “I” do not exist anymore, and do not have any worry anymore. The sense of freedom by watching the paintings by Yu is similar to “the shattering of subjectivity;” that is, the switch between the author and guests, the integration between the author and guests, and the disappearance of the author and guests. When I watched the paintings by Yu, I felt “myself” disappeared, and I thought in the process, I might find “the real me.”

    Tao, Qi, and Chih are the key words for the Taoists. However, I think they are not enough to describe the magnificence of Yu’s paintings. The real me can change its form and become anything, and this is the work of formation. Artists pursue uniqueness, and their painting brushes compensate their work. Through searching feelings and the circulation of atmospheres, I found the paintings by Yu are more close to the combination of Buddhism and Taoism. I always hang different paintings by Yu in my house and stand in front of them to watch and amaze by the world created by Yu. For me, watching those paintings is a process of self-cultivation. When I thought I found “the real me,” the paintings by Yu seemed to talk to me that there is no me in the real emptiness. It is all because the beauty of the world creates those paintings. In the world created by Yu in his paintings, I feel the understanding of emptiness. Within the real emptiness, the paints are to form the reality. Thus, for me, the paintings by Yu pursue not real feelings and the real me, but the true heart.

    The true heart is the bridge of Buddhists to realize the essence of emptiness in the world.

    Everything was born from emptiness because the emptiness can tolerate everything. I believe that collectors and artists in the following generation can realize this. Yu Peng, as an artist, has great painting skills and different views, and his works reveal great tenderness.

    Yu like to discuss about Chi and Tao. For me, he is more like a Buddhist.

    So, the ink in Yu’s paintings is like the ocean which can tolerate everything. This is what I feel when I watch his paintings every day.

    A combination of Buddhism and Taoism, and the ocean-like ink reveals the real me. There is no me in the real emptiness, free, joyful, and relaxing.

Written on Nov. 28, 2012