Kingsley Art Talk at Crocker Art Museum 2019
I often ask myself, what’s America? In my opinion, All in one is America. - different culture, different background, different creative thinking, work together as one. Our group is a perfect example. I love our group very much.
I really like Picasso's words: "I used to study for four years as well as Raphael, but I spent the rest of my life learning how to create like a child."
As an artist straddling both east and west, I aspired to create the language as well as the setting behind the art. I subvert the skill of the traditional ink art as to inherit the spirit of it. The brushless style emerged from my consistent try and error.
Through research and discovery, I have been striving to achieve a conversation and amalgamation between people and nature.
The Universe and Man in Reflection
Philosophy
As a Chinese-American artist, a rebel in the artistic world and in life, one thing I felt proud of was my persistence in being a man who is creative and a busybody. I spend most of my time thinking about how to introduce a more vital and relevant Chinese art onto the international art stage. Chinese art is a mirror of the unknown world and a mysterious part of ourselves. Our souls require this mysterious mirror.
For 500 years through the Tang and Song Dynasties (600 to 1279) and 100 years during Bada Shanren time (around 1700) art reached its pinnacle. Since then, Chinese artists have continued to replicate the old forms of art in the name of cultural inheritance. This has led to a state of confusion and decay.
The spirit of traditional Chinese art is still here but the body that contains this spirit has vanished. The spirit is the ethereal ink, the legacy of millennia of eastern art. The body is the pen-brush/ink and the techniques for its use, which once expressed the highest form of Chinese art. Today the brush and its techniques should only be studied for historical guidance, not as a template. Unfortunately, the idea that the use of the brush is the standard by which art should be judged, has led to generations of facsimile.
If life allows, I hope to lead a different manner of artistic pursuit with a form of ink painting that is my own. The work I have created over the past 10 years is meant to solve the riddle of how to combine harmoniously the spirit of ink with the openness of the 21st century.
Subversion
The spirit of oriental arts is existed in its ink trace and the amorphousness not its manual technique. The function of the 21st century youngsters is to subvert the tradition than to learn blindly the skills from the masters. This spirit has been created and developed to its peak. It should be documented in the history rather than providing a template for the generations to come.
My aim has been to honor the soul of Chinese art. I wish to acknowledge the eastern philosophical grandeur of unity between man and the universe and express my gratitude for the spiritual presence that exists in nature.
I put down the brush, put down the techniques, and sought a new way to enter art creation. What emerged was the natural element of moving water with ink, with its strong and also its soft manifestations. Water seamlessly combined imagination and creativity with visions of nature. I work day by day, making the best of things as they come, using water and the ethereal ink soul. I understand that subversion is one way to inherit the spirit and most importantly to pass on.
Amorphousness
The combination of ink and water on nearly transparent silk allows for both structure and visual paradox in my work. Impressions are left on the silk, sometimes strong, sometimes vague, almost always a shifting combination of possibilities, which is one entrance into the spiritual world.
When I laid down my brush, I also gave up traditional framing and reliance on walls for display. Soft and transparent silk, in harmony with wandering ink and water, is best seen in a dimensional space with the possibility of movement and changing light. The hanging silk, away from walls, creates a living environment, based on simplicity and layered visual experience.
In China I majored in Chinese figure painting. When I came to America, I spent over 10 years creating installations. The installations slowly morphed into my method of ink painting. I have always been someone who crosses artistic boundaries and engages in a process filled with trial and error. This has benefited my exploration of the convergence of art and living space. Art and living space, space and shadow, in and out, people and nature, the ever-shifting vantage point between audience and the art—all of these reflect a synthesis of the mysterious spiritual realm and an amorphous artistic domain of eastern art. I am reminded of a saying by the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou, who asked, "Did Zhou dream of the butterfly or did the butterfly dream of Zhou?"
Gong Yuebin
May 1st， 2018, California
《天人象映》
作为一名美籍华人艺术家，一个人鬼同体的叛逆者，一盏游走东西的鬼火，思考较多的是如何在国际艺术舞台上贡献出更具融合性的中国传统绘画艺术。在我看来，中国的绘画艺术是一面镜子，在镜子面前，你更多的能看到一个未知的自己和未知的世界。人性的内心需要这面玄妙的镜子，中国传统绘画艺术的灵魂便在于此。中国绘画艺术的巅峰期，唐宋五百年和八大山人一百年，创造了东方绘画艺术的巅峰。之后的中国人以传承的名义效仿古人几百年，使得中国艺术一直处于窘迫之境。中国传统绘画的灵魂尚在，但承载和传承这个灵魂的躯体已不复存在，这个躯体便是那支创造了中国绘画艺术巅峰的毛笔和笔墨技巧。取而代之的是一个信息与科技，一个想象力和创造力极具发达的新生代。我这些年所做的绢上水墨创作，旨意在如何让二十一世纪，一个全新开放的新生代和传承了几千年的东方艺术的灵魂-墨韵空灵相衔接相融合。
一，颠覆，亦是最有价值的艺术传承
东方绘画艺术的灵魂在于墨韵空灵，而不在于笔墨技巧；二十一世纪新生代的机能在于创新无限，而不在于师承技巧。
墨韵空灵，堪称中国绘画艺术的灵魂，一代代大师们凭借一支毛笔的功力和技巧，创造出了中国独有的墨韵空灵玄学艺术视觉，将中国传统绘画艺术推向到巅峰。这个辉煌谨应以载入史册引领后人，而不应该作为后人效仿的范本。可悲的，正是几百年来一代代人的效仿，尤其是，当称为书写绘画唯一工具的毛笔已成为非遗的时代，一个拥有无限想象力和创造力的二十一世纪新生代的崛起，仍固守着笔墨技巧是评判传承中国绘画艺术之标准，致使，中国传统绘画一直走在一条没有出路的死胡同。
这些年，我怀着对中国传统绘画巅峰之作之魂的敬畏，对东方哲学博大玄妙天人合一的认同，和对自然物象众皆有灵的感恩，尝试着放下毛笔，放下笔墨技巧，以零门槛进入艺术创作的思维。借助于大自然浑然天成的一切元素，移“水”宜用，随“心”所致，借水的强弱两面性，赋予了我画面中的章法和虚实，扔掉了毛笔和技巧的束缚和窠臼，将无限的想象力和创造力与自然物象有机组合。日复一日，随欲而安，酿造出那存在于天地之间的墨韵空灵和天人象映。在展示模式上，放弃传统的框裱挂墙为自然悬挂，保持其生绢通透飘逸和水墨气象万千特有的绢上水墨表现形式，使中国传统绘画艺术之魂-墨韵空灵之效果得以更加淋漓尽致的发挥和再现。（见 2017《太极水墨》和2019《阴阳之间》系列绢上水墨作品）。
传承的是灵魂而不是技巧。颠覆，亦是最有价值的艺术传承。
二，无形，是绘画艺术与人居空间最完美的融合
随着未来人居环境的简约和通透，人与自然，空间与艺术自然融合的趋势，中国传统水墨艺术，应由附属于墙上的艺术装饰陈列转换为与人居空间形成多层次，多视觉的艺术对话媒介。
在未来人居空间的间隔会越来越少，人与自然和谐共处的需求与日俱增。绘画艺术，尤其中国传统水墨艺术的展示陈列方式将成为创作过程的重要元素所需要思考和突破。
我系中国画人物专业出身，但在美国近二十年的艺术生涯，却是从当代艺术装置创作开始，渐而进入当代水墨。近些年我对绘画艺术与人居空间融合性的研究和摸索，得益于我一直以来所崇尚的极端跨界的艺术思维和艺术试错的创作经历。以我的系列绢上水墨 2017《太极水墨》和 2019《阴阳之间》作品先后在加州，广州个展为例，成功的结束了依附于墙壁绘画艺术装饰陈列，转换成为悬空在人居空间里的通透意象对话媒介，透过这层轻盈飘逸，墨韵空灵的艺术媒介，东方艺术和东方哲学的博大玄妙之效果表现的更加准确和智慧。
艺术与人居，空间与光影，室内与室外，人物与自然，作品的角度和觀者视线的游移穿越，可谓，“不知周之夢为胡蝶与，胡蝶之夢为周与？”东方艺术独有的神秘境界和无形艺术媒介的完美融合。
宫跃斌
2018年5月1日于加州
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Transcend Yin and Yang
November 20, 2018, I was captured by “The underworld” from a train on the way to visit my mother in hospital. On January 20, 2019 much gratitude to my American friend in the light, I was rescued.
Next day, I sat in front of a mirror. I could not believe that was me I saw. Recalling my life in the past, I never doubted what I see. Either as a kid eating only sweet potatoes or during my mid-life years with meals of beef steak, I have not had any moment when I questioned the person in the mirror. Could the two months’ time in the underworld have altered my spirit to such a degree as to change my appearance?
I made a cup of tea for myself and sat down again in front of the mirror reexamining my tortured and yet still spirited eyes under thick eyebrows; also, there was the twisted body battled with evil and hairs that turned white overnight. I regret to not have made a self-portrait before going into the dark on November 2018.
At long last, I have awakened from nightmare with the sun shining; riding untamed in the wind, let water and ink rise graciously to the top.
Sincerely, much gratitude to my friend for the rescue, to the kindness in light.
Gong Yuebin
January 20th, 2019 in Guang Zhou
《阴阳之间》系列作品自白
2018年11月20日，我在回故乡看望母亲的列车上，被阴间的阎王拖去问斩，直至2019年元月20，被美国阳间的善友救回家中。
次日，我端坐在天镜前，看着镜子中的自己，明明知道里面的是自己，但无论如何不敢相信是真正的自己。
想起来大半辈子都是这样照镜子的，从无怀疑过。无论是那啃着红薯的幼童青年，还是吃着牛扒的天命之年，从没怀疑过镜子前的自己。难道仅两个月的阴间经历，真的让阴气邪了自己的样子？
我给自己沏上了一杯清茶，再次坐回到天镜前，仔细看着让阴气摧邪了的脸和依然浓眉下的眼睛，还有，被阴间的邪气变了形的身和一夜间被摧白了的发。后悔，在2018年11月20日被拖进阴间前没有留下张自己的写真。
好在，噩梦已醒，阳光万丈，乘风随心放飞，让水墨天人功成。
谨此，感恩善友搭救，写真阴阳之间。
宫跃斌
2019 年1月20日于广州
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Pen-brushless Inkwork
Pen-brushless Inkwork
As an artist straddling both east and west, I examined my years’ artworks in America retrospectively. Starting from expressing my sentiments to Chinese tradition with hard visual effect installation, I aspired to create the language as well as the setting behind the art in the sense to inherit traditional Chinese ink art, but subversively apply the pen-brushless skill emerged from my consistent try and error. Through research and discovery, I have been striving to achieve a conversation and amalgamation between people and nature. My creative ideas are to reflect the "nothingness," "mirror," and the traces of "water," and "Ink." I encourage a zero-threshold entering into the creation of art that reflects the heavenly earth.
In an appropriate exhibit opportunity and space, my work should exist across boundaries with an infinite possibility.
For example:
A place that blurs the boundary between interior and exterior of a structure. It should have no disturbances of limits and shackles but exist purely in nature. As the works hang in the air, the audience could freely traverse the columns of artwork to enjoy or to rest. Through the ever-changing landscape and shifting lights from sunrise to sunset, the viewers could observe the art and each other, relishing the beauty of art in people, as well as the people in art. From the ray of sunshine piercing in until the enlightenment of the moon, there is the manifestation of imagination and thoughts on revived art. The viewers are experiencing the power and creativity of the ink art that exists without any limitation.
During the exhibition, we invite 24 art enthusiasts, ten from each category of elementary school, middle school, high school, and college to participate in a pen-brushless ink work creation. There is no prerequisite for them. In the last week before the closure of the exhibition, we display the students work along with my art. We invite educators, artists, art critics, student representatives to join in a seminar for evaluating the artworks and sharing an exchange of views.
Yuebin Gong
September 16th, 2018 in California
《水墨无笔》
作为一个脚踏东西的艺术工作者，静观自己在美国近二十年的艺术作品，似乎，是由以西方的硬视觉当代装置艺术呈现记忆中的中国情结开始，逐步演变为以当下感悟中的阴阳天地，创造绢上“水墨无笔”和“天人象映”的东方墨魂，创造东方软视觉空间之间的视觉和对话场景。
意在尝试对中国水墨进行颠覆性传承和去笔创作的自己，企图以“无”“镜”象映，和“水”“墨”遗痕进行创作实验，希望能以创作技巧上的零门槛和应物通灵创作的纯粹性，与大自然进行天人象映的对话和艺术创作。
若在一个合适的展览机会和空间，我作品呈现的方式应该会有无限跨界的可能性。
例如：
在绢上水墨主题装置展场，营造一个室内场景空间，将作品悬挂在空中，观众可以自由穿行于作品中间进行观赏，参与体验透明生绢水墨作品在二十四小时内（由灯光模拟系统完成），从日出日落到月明星斗，从画中窥视人和物，从物中对话人与景，感悟水墨艺术无限跨界的魅力和创造力。
在展览期间，分别邀请小学，中学，高中，大学24位艺术兴趣爱好者（无需绘画基本功）现场参与《水墨无笔》水墨创作实验。在展览闭幕前一周，将24位同学创作的《水墨无笔》水墨作品同台展出，届时可邀请教育专家，艺术家，艺评家及学生代表参与品鉴和研讨。
宫跃斌于加州工作室
2018/9/16
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