“Shen 神(spirit) is formless but resides in form, and Li 天理 (its organising principle) participates in all matter and substance, and their reflections.” Tsung Ping (375-444 CE)
‘ONENESS III’ was painted during the final year my of PhD research, an exploration of the art and neuroscience of traditional Chinese painting. Chinese painting is an ancient (and continuing) artistic practice steeped in Buddhism, Confucianism and Daosim. Within these philosophies of thought is the concept of Oneness.
A state of Oneness can be expressed as the perpetual realisation that we are not separate from the world around us. Through the abstraction of form, using a repetitive, meditative practice of Chinese calligraphic strokes, I give voice to the permeability and reciprocity of our nature. We are solid yet also receptive beings of matter and energy, in a constant state of flux and sympathetic resonance with our surroundings.
While we have much in common with the physical world, and this is expressed in physiognomy of painting in the Chinese tradition, where cavernous rocks are like yawning mouths and oceans are hungry dogs, this collection goes beyond simile and metaphor to delve into the depths of how we are one and the same with the world around us from the perspective of our energetic states. Our nature can be expressed and found in the abstract.
The practice of the discipline of traditional Chinese painting is one of surrender to its processes and methodologies, and an acknowledgement that understanding of its outcomes can’t be cognised. I have found that in the walking of this path, defined by consistency of practice, and the distillation of small accumulated efforts over time, there are fields of discovery that unfurl themselves.
The physical work, an acrylic painting on canvas measuring 152.5cm x 183cm (60” x 72”), took 3 months to paint and was digitalized in high resolution by Australian art photographer Louis Lim.
The work was inspired by a moment of mediation many years before in which I became aware of the capacity of the human ‘instrument’ to feel and experience ch'i.
