Chinese Contemporary Art Series Eva Kit Wah Man Issues of Contemporary Art and Aesthetics in Chinese Context Chinese Contemporary Art Series Editor-In-Chief Dr. Chunchen WANG China Academy of Fine Arts No. 8 Huajiadi Nanjie Street, Wangjing, Chaoyang District Beijing, P.R. China [email protected] Deputy Editors-In-Chief PaulGladston,AssociateProfessor,NottinghamUniversity([email protected]) Wenny Teo, Lecturer, Courtauld Academy of Art ([email protected]) Advisor Board Alexandra Munroe, Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Britta Erickson, Ph.D., independent curator, Palo Alto Duan Jun, Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Art, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Eugene Wang, Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University, Boston He Guiyan, Associate Professor, Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, Chongqing John Rajchman, Professor, Art History, Columbia University, New York James Elkins, Professor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Katie Hill, Dr., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London Mian Bu, independent curator, Beijing Melissa Chiu, Director of Hirshhorn Art Museum, Washington DC Michael Rush, Director of Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing Paul Gladston, Associate Professor, Director of the Centre for Contemporary East-Asian Cultural Studies, The University of Nottingham Sheng Wei, Dr., Deputy Editor of Art Magazine, Beijing ThomasJ.Berghuis,Dr.,CuratorofChineseArt,SolomonR.GuggenheimMuseum,NewYork Voon Pow Bartlett, Dr., Project Manager, Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific, London WennyTeo,Dr.,LecturerinModernandContemporaryAsianArt,TheCourtauldInstituteof Art, London Yi Ying, Professor, Art Historian, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Yin Shuangxi, Professor in Contemporary Art, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing YuYang,AssociateProfessorinModernChineseArt,CentralAcademyofFineArts,Beijing Zheng Shengtian, Editor-in-Chief of Yi Shu magazine, Vancouver ThisseriesfocusesonwhatishappeningtoChineseartinthecourseofrecentdecades.Since Chinahaschangedgreatly,itisnowacuriosityandaresearchtask:Whatisthat?Whyisthat? How can it be that? Culturally, why does Chinese art have its own special image narrative? How to evaluate and criticize Chinese art made today? Is it a continuation of its history and heritage?Isanythingnewthatcouldbereconsideredfurther?IsChineseartanartisticissueor a political one? This series of books will concentrate on such questions and issues and will invite international writers and scholars to contribute their thoughts on the explanation and elaboration of Chinese art today. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13527 Eva Kit Wah Man Issues of Contemporary Art and Aesthetics in Chinese Context 123 EvaKit WahMan Department ofHumanities andCreative Writing Hong KongBaptist University Hong Kong Hong KongSAR ISSN 2199-9058 ISSN 2199-9066 (electronic) ChineseContemporary ArtSeries ISBN978-3-662-46509-7 ISBN978-3-662-46510-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-46510-3 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015944726 SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon ©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2015 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnot imply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsand regulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelieved tobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty, expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen made. Printedonacid-freepaper Springer-VerlagGmbHBerlinHeidelbergispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) “ ” Preface to Chinese Contemporary Art Series The world’s present interest in and focus on China is related to the great changes that have takenplaceinChinaoverthelast30years.Thealterationsinmanyphenomenaactuallyallow ustoobservethechangesinChina.Historically,transformationofaclosedlocalizedareadoes not immediately and directly evoke a chain reaction in neighboring areas. Today, however, that is not the case, especially for a country like China that has the largest population in the world, that at present has a huge manufacturing capacity and capability, that consumes vast amountsofnaturalresources,andthatexhibitsanunprecedentedenvironmentalimpact.When these kinds of changes occur in China, the world cannot but feel their existence and impact. Thisisanecessaryresultoftoday’sglobalizationandaphenomenonthatcannotbeavoided as the world enters into the true meaning of the term “global village.” It does not matter whetheroneopposesglobalization,favorslocalizedculturaldiversity,orfavorsakindof‘you arewithinmeandIamwithinyou’conceptoftenreferredtobytheneologism“glocalization.” Because of its historical transformation, China is per force a focus for the whole world and, moreover, is a top priority focus. Today, there are more and more research studies produced aboutChina,whileinstitutionsestablishedtoundertakeresearchonChinaarebecomingmore prevalentinthe world. Thisisboth thecontinuation oftraditional “Chinese studies” andalso at the same time the start of a new world wide proposition: as a country that maintains its historicalcontinuity,asacountrythathasenduredmorethanacenturyofchaosafterwhichit weakenedanddeclined,canChinatrulybecomeamodernstateofsignificanceanddemocracy to the world? This has become both an historical challenge and a practical issue. ViewingthematterfromChinainternally,theChinesealsohaveahistoricalcuriosityover the events that have occurred, and they are eager to know what after all is the significance of these transformations. Although they are directly involved in their own desire for more answers,theyknowthattheseanswerswillnotbeobtainedintheshortterm.Inthefieldofart, thestoriesthatappearandemergehaveresearchvalueandrequirestudybecausetheyarethe results and visual symptoms of this historical transformation. The hope in editing and pre- senting this collection of writings is that, by means of publication, these literary works will observe,record,andreflectChina’scontemporaryartstoriesandtheirsignificance.Publication will allow these articles and essays to reveal the development of art during a time of special temporal and spatial conditions. The searches for relevant scholarship reveal much historical baggageandanentangledhistory.Mostofall,theyprovideahistoryofvisualmovementsthat requires special recognition and that represents the struggle and rebirth of art during a time when history was remade. As the embodimentof spiritual expression and real existence, China’s contemporary art is rife with contradictions and strivings. Overall, however, contemporary art in China is quite different from that ofanyother historical period.It transmits theeffects ofthepropagation of foreign concepts and values. China’s artists, as the inhabitants of the piece of earth called China, have an unprecedented variety of experiences. Chinese discussions and arguments about art, in both the modern and contemporary periods, have differed entirely from the dialogues and debates in other countries but, nonetheless, still show the impact of the times. Some of these arguments are about large topics such as a comparison of the west and China, v vi Prefaceto“ChineseContemporaryArtSeries” culturalidentity,andmodernity,whilesomeareaboutsmalltopicssuchasstylesoflanguage, image generation, and even whether traditional brush and ink painting always reflects the psychologyofanationalculture.Infact,manyoftheseissuesaretemporary,andmanymore are pseudo issues. Some of these issues are of a profound nature, while some are issues involving rediscovery and recreation that inspire new cultural and artistic entities. No matter what, themainproblemofart inChinatoday isthat ofputtingartinto practice. Ifthere isno large quantity of creative art that is put into practice, then academic research could become specious. If art is not advanced uninterruptedly, it is difficult to continue with research that shows promising results. This series focuses on what happens to Chinese art at present and include monologues, study on art history, case study, movements, critical discourses, and so on. This after all is work for the long term. By means of the publication of this work, we hope to build a worldwide research network on contemporary Chinese art, to pass on China’s research and tradition of “Chinese studies”, and to fuse together China’s inquiries with those of interested audiences throughout the world. Acknowledgments I am most grateful for the support of my close family, my colleagues at the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at the Hong Kong Baptist University, the technical assistance of Dian Dian and Cecilia Tsang, and the co-ordination support of Dr. Gladys Chong.Theygranted mesupportand eased thepressureof writing and editing thisbook,the entries for which are the result of my efforts across the past decade. vii Contents 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 What Is an Author? A Comparative Study of Søren Kierkegaard and Liu Xie on the Meanings of Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.2 What Is an Author? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.3 Aesthetic Authors and Religious Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.4 The Creative Force of Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.5 The Goals of Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2.6 Revelations Through Comparison: On the Meaning of Authorship . . . . . 11 2.7 Somatic Sensibilities Informing Writing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 2.8 Comparative Religious Insights and the Meaning of Writing . . . . . . . . . 12 2.9 Epilogue: A Contemporary Appropriation of Kierkegaard’s Authorship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3 Rethinking Art and Values: A Comparative Revelation of the Origin of Aesthetic Experience (from the Neo-Confucian Perspectives). . . . . . . . . . 15 3.1 Introduction: “The End of Aesthetic Experience” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 3.2 Aesthetic Experience and the Origin of Values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.3 The Aesthetic Experience in Traditional Chinese Philosophies as Introduced by Contemporary Neo-Confucians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3.4 A Comparative Revelation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4 Contemporary Philosophical Aesthetics in China: The Relation Between Subject and Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 4.1 Schools of Aesthetics and Their Debates in Marxist China. . . . . . . . . . . 23 4.2 Modern Aesthetics System and the Notion of Ganxing . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.3 Analysis of the Aesthetic Notion “Ganxing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4.4 A Review of a New Proposal in Contemporary Chinese Aesthetics. . . . . 26 4.5 The Deweyan Influence in Contemporary China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 5 Some Reflections on Confucian Aesthetics and Its Feminist Modalities . . . . 29 5.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.2 Feminist Critiques on the Western Aesthetics Tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 5.3 The Future of Aesthetics and the Feminist Agenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 5.4 The Mind and the Body Harmony: The Confucian Theory of Music. . . . 31 5.5 Confucian Aesthetics and Its Feminist Modalities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 5.6 Some Critical Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ix x Contents 6 Metaphysics, Corporeality and Visuality: A Developmental and Comparative Review of the Discourses on Chinese Ink Painting. . . . . . 37 6.1 Introduction: New Ink Art and the Question of “What is Ink Painting”?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 6.2 Traditional Discourse on Ink Painting: The Case of “Oneness” of Stroke Suggested by Shih Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 6.3 The Oneness of Stroke and the Meaning of Techn’e in Traditional Ink Painting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 6.4 Visuality: The Case of Merleau-Ponty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 6.5 The “Expansion” of New Ink Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 7 Experimental Painting and Painting Theories in Colonial Hong Kong (1940–1980): Reflections on Cultural Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.2 Painting in Hong Kong 1940–1980. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.3 The Communist Influences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 7.4 The Local Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 7.5 The “New Ink Movement”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 7.6 From Traditionalism to Creative Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 7.7 Conclusion: Postcolonial Discourse and the “Third Space”. . . . . . . . . . . 54 Elink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 8 The Notion of “Orientalism” in the Modernization Movement of Chinese Painting of Hong Kong Artists in 1960s: The Case of Hon Chi-Fun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 8.1 Reflections on Different Perspectives of Postcolonial Writing. . . . . . . . . 57 8.2 The Case of Hon Chi-Fun: His Art and Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 8.3 The Revelation of Hon’s Case as It Relates to National, International, Transnational, and Transcultural . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Elink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 9 Some Reflections on “Feminist Aesthetics”: Private/Public? Personal/Political? Gender/PostColonial?—the Case of Women Art in PostColonial Hong Kong in 1990s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 9.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 9.2 Some Propositions of Feminist Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 9.3 Young Women’s Art in Postcolonial Hong Kong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 9.4 Personal History and Production. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 9.5 Private (Experience) and Public (Exhibition) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 9.6 Personal Response to Social and Political Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 9.7 Exploration and Development of Artistic Languages and Media. . . . . . . 69 9.8 Gender Construction and Individual Transcendence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 10 A Museum of Hybridity: The History of the Display of Art in the Public Museum of Hong Kong and Its Implications for Cultural Identities . . . . . . 71 10.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 10.2 A Brief History of the Hong Kong Museum of Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 10.3 Mission and Practices: Collections, Exhibitions, andArtistic Identities. . . 72 10.4 Cultural Policies and Their Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 10.5 Museum Skepticism and New Forms of Hybridity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78