Potted trees,potted flowers-Tai ho Ying solo exhibition
I met Ho-Ying in Hong Kong in 1960s when the artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan were intensively discussing modernistic literature and art. Abstract expressionism is a prevailing direction for painters in the 1950s to explore and imitate. In addition to oil paintings, the artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan also produced abstract ink paintings, which is worth recognizing for me since it marked the connection between Chinese paintings and the worldwide art trend. I even believe that art is like the other things that will be better off and progress. Therefore, it is concluded that the art of painting have evolved from concretization to abstraction, which represented a greater breakthrough compared to the spiritual meanings in Chinese paintings. After Ho-Ying left China for Hong Kong, he realized the art education and realistic painting training that he received in the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts were totally different from the art trend in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the hung impact of the conflicts he endured is beyond imagination. Perhaps it is the reason why he decided to explore in the origin of modernism – Paris.
When Tai arrived in Paris in the early 1970s, the New York style was popular in the art field which was photorealism after the abstract expressionism. Photorealism is not about to imitate real objects, but to imitate photos, which use the artists’ eyes to challenge the photographic realism with the aid of photographic tools; in doing so, the art of paintings can be as much accurate than optical technology. I believe the shock that Ho-Ying felt was not less than the first time when he arrived in Hong Kong. His perplexity must be deeper, although he could have showed his “realistic” skills.
When I studied abroad in Paris in the 1980s, Ho-Ying was a highly regarded Chinese painter. However, his paintings were still “realism,” instead of “photorealism” of the New York style. He told me that the artists in Paris did not blindly follow the trend. Although after WWII, the western modern art center has been transferred to New York due to the rise and fall of national strength, the formation of art trend or style raised in New York was gradually combined with the operation of capitalism of the U.S. The natural artistic inheritance had turned in to artificial production and operation, which combined galleries, painters, critics, collectors, auctions, and museums, thereby forming the production line of painting trend or style to ensure the “new” style of art continuous replacement to make profit. Even though the art field in Paris could not be immune from the commercial trend, many artists raised their doubts and chose to resist it. Not all of the artists in Paris were influenced by the New York style, such as the great artist Zao, Wou-Ki never gave up his exploring of abstract expressionism. The influence brought by photographic realism in Paris was mainly the regression and revival of realistic and figurative paintings. Some of artists used the technique of photography but they did not pursuit the objective, non-subjective, cold “pure-realism,” but consciously pursuit the subjective, poetic, and dramatic “subjective-realism.”
Ho-Ying settled in Paris for almost half a century, staying in his studio like a monk to “practice” his “realistic” painting skills every day. In these years, he painted nothing more than the interior objects and outdoor scenery of his studio. But when you take a close look, you will find the differences between these stages. The unified style, colors, and strokes, the combination of different objects and layout showed his different period of aesthetic thinking and his mindset. Among his art works in 2010 and 2014, the combination of the figurative modeling (such as people and plants) and abstract modeling (such as doors, windows and walls) of objects, the photographic angle and special arrangement to see the outdoor from indoor, the inanimate still objects and vivid plants had demonstrated his creative ideas. The art work in this coming exhibition in 2016, we can see the living image from the basis of the creative concept, especially from the painting “Tree Entangled with Roots.” The tree pot was placed beside the window. The thick leaves show the life of the artist and bring out into the wide blue sky and bright clouds. When I saw these art works, I am excited to say that Ho-Ying finally found a new bright path of his art life.
Since the May Fourth Movement, Chinese intellectuals have been fascinated by the Western ideology, including artistic “doctrines.” After one hundred years later, we finally realized that all the “doctrines” is nothing more than theology, and theology is nothing more than stifling doctrine of dogma. The Chinese philosophy is about “path (road) ” that means heritage and development. The ones choose change can develop, while the ones choose not change will heritage. Therefore, we do not emphasize “origin,” but we focus on “transformation.” We need to fully understand those who choose not change, so that we can have the condition to make a change. And persons is the key effect. That is why Liu, Xie said “With emotions to understand; To adapt through attitudes.” We need to actually take action to realize it, especially for the art field. It is worth knowing that Ho-Ying engages in the western painting in Chinese ideology.
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Written by Koo, Siu-Sun in December 2016