-The Move and the Quiet in Liao Jianhua`s Works and the "Daily Art Dhyana"
"In the process of doing something，please do not disturb"，this is a typical phrase used in the current internet language. The first half of the phrase came from the English "verb+ing"tense showing the sustained state of a certain action; the latter half of the phrase came from a "slogan"often found on the doors of the Chinese or popular in oral Chinese language expressing a kind of fear of or refusal to any kinds of disturbance from outside.The mixture of the two has shadowed the concrete nature of the "action" and the "refusal"，the sentence structure is more of an warning to the outside. The actual feeling of the sentence is to seek the calm of the heart reflecting the boredom and the hopelessness of the modern people constantly disturbed by the fast changing world. Therefore, in recent years this phrase has been widely used by Chinese of all walks of life (dispite differences in age, status, profession and sex) and has become a really popular phrase in social life.
"Live in peace, disturbed but not perturbed"- here I want to use the similar phrase structure to vividly express how I feel and how I understand the works of Liao Jianhua.Liao Jianhua's home is situated in a rented peasant courtyard in the extreme west of the Xiaopu Village near a little woods.In the middle of the increasingly bustling atmosphere of Song Zhuang, his home appears very quiet where he and and his wife Li Manjin live and paint.It is not spacious but very well organized. They don't have a fixed job, their life not very rich but quite calm and stable; not very varied but quite peaceful.For the past five or six years since they arrived in Songzhuang, they have been guarding this quietness with no complainte, no annoyance and no regret. This is not only a chosen attitude towards life but also a reflection of their psychological state of mind.
In the past five or six years, Liao Jianhua has done many paintings but all of them are a kind of simplified "forms"repeating themselves endlessly. The overall painting looks very calm, but all those simplified "forms"are all on the move.In the Dreaming of Sperm ,"tadpoles"swimming to the same direction dragging their tiny tails.In The painting of unconsciousness the dizzy"cells"seem to be splitting and growing continuously，even in the Infinite lines the"lines"are strecting themselves with tension......These "forms "are numerous,heavy and complicated but at the same time orderly, overlapping each other and in the same direction, the variations are subtle and boundless. The old saying goes like "the face of a person reflecting his heart and mind".I understand that this is the instant reflection of the "heart and mind"of the artist.
It seems that the art form related to"Dhyana"has always existed which is using a simple element（an action of handworkã€a simplified strokeã€a concept shape etc）repeating endlessly this element with no time limit，no visual bound.In 1995 Women's Ways exhibition，I said that this form"reflecting the infinitely multiplying nature of life in terms of feeling, and in terms of method it is similar to the continuous handcraft knitting , the personal feeling being instantly relieved and condensed in this single but complex act of handwork". In the later ten years, this kind of method has been called collectively as "touches similar to knitting"，surpassing the womens'approach, exploring the relationship between the feeling of the heart and the handwork and also the significance of the process of handwork for calming heart and mind.In 2004 Beads and Touches exhibition，Lao Li compared this art form to the form of religious "dhyana"，"the repeated and complicated nature of touches or the action of making something is similar to the Buddhists repeatly moving the beads with hands or reciting Buddhist scripts while in sitting meditation.It has an abstract and metaphysical nature.In this repeated process every stroke of the touch or every action of the hand work is surpassing the objects and phenomena. It is abstract, simple, metaphysical and corresponds directly to the heart and mind. In this sense，complicated or extremely complicated joins the extremely simple, reaching the same goals by different routes because the complicated goes to the simple , the simple goes to the void which is pureness and flatness ".Lao Li also specially stressed its effectiveness in terms of "calming of heart and mind by oneself".
This method and its effectiveness is similar to"dhyana".It has been experienced and proved by many artists.Certainly, artists are not religious persons and art is not religion. Every one of us must have had the experience of "a flash of mind"ã€"be confused and disconcerted"，because every "thought"（we usually call it an"idea"）is permeating everywhere and going everywhere, appearing everywhere and utterly confused.Most of these ideas just flash across the mind,however some of the ideas are becoming more conscious, more indicated and exteriorated so as to finally to have influence on your body and mind causing different results."The heart is the heart of the matter, the nature of heart is upright with no dishonest ideas, only when an idea comes from mind, the heart could become dishonest （Wang Xueren Great Learning ".If we don't clean these ideas，we could feel"confused and disturbed". Since ancient times,the Chinese have always paid attention to the "combing of heart"，meant to comb the constantly changing ideas so as to control their disturbances or even better, not being disturbed at all by them.
In 2008，through Catharsis exhibition，I tried to explore the "daily""heart combing"method of artists as ordinary people. In In the World，Zhuang Zi said that it is easy for man not to walk but it is difficult to walk without leaving traces. We are living in the boundless universe, it is impossible for us not to be disturbed. If the"heart"is disturbed, moved, wrinkled, dizzy, confused, or even broken, we need not fear this. The important thing is to "return to the original state"。Therefore， using different methods to take out heart to keep it clean and bright，has become the indispensable need of mankind with"ideas". This is what I call"Catharsis"。" Catharsis"is needed by every person using heart but we could use different methods。Modern life is far from nature, mankind is more and more lost and fragile，heart is easily incantated by various temptations.Of course，"Catharsis"does not necessarily mean consciously practicing a religion. Art is an important part of the daily life of artists, art could be an ideal, a pursuit, why could not it be a "combing of heart"， "to relieve one's heart of incantation".
In this sense，I feel that Liao Jianhua is excellent in practising"Daily Art Dhyana". Apart form catching"ideas"in time，simplyfying them into"concepts and images"，his works also require indomitable spirit and continuous perseverance. This is the most important and what I admire the most. If in this way one could not only live with heart in peace, but also express feelings in art, isn't it the most pleasant way？
Finally I would like to tell everybody that Liao Jianhua was born after 1980.
2011-5-10 by Liao Wen
1981
Born in Hunan, China
2005
Graduated from Yueyang Normal College, Hunan, China
Living and working in Beijing, China
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2016
One Cent Exchange Project·Liao Jianhua Solo Exhibition, DongLi Art Space, Beijing, China
2015
The limited-The limitless·Liao Jianhua Solo Exhibition, ARTASTE, Beijing, China
2013
The Emptiness Of Mind·Liao Jianhua Solo Exhibition, Signature Fine Arts Beijing Gallery, Beijing, China
The Joyous From Lines·Liao Jianhua Solo Exhibition, Art Fusee Collection, Shenzhen, China
Cardiogram·Liao Jianhua Solo Exhibition, Egg Gallery, Beijing, China
2011
Consciously Or Unconsciously·Liaojianhua Solo Exhibition, LDX Conternporary Art Center Beijing, China
2009
LiaoJianhua First SoloExhibition09·Contemplation Maps, Y2ARTSShowroom, Singapore
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016
Yongcai.2016 He Wenjue National Young Artist Prize Works Exhibition, Changsha, Hunan, China
Natural Growth, Chimney Art Center, Shanghai, China
Transience Metro: Scape, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China
My Art Possession, CentrePasquArt, Switzerland
The Working of Non·Figurative System, Right View Art Museum, Beijing, China
Artificial Garden, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China
The Time Zone Of Resonance, XinJiang Conternporary Art Museum, XinJiang, China
2015
Together On The Path·Critical Traditionalism·Youth Exhibition, Ovation Art Space, Langfang, China
Contemporary China Ink Line Art, Nanjing International Exhibition Center, Nanjing, China
Post-Calligraphy In Chinese Contemporary Art, Kunstrum Villa Friede, Germany
Gengons·Structure Dimnsion Of New Abstraction, EAPC Gallery, Beijing, China
Valent Weight, LiArtMuseum, Changsha, China
2014
Out OF Image, Yi Sheng Art Space, Beijing, China
New Generation Of Abstract Art, Si Shang ArtMuseum, Beijing, China
Aiyoriaoshi, UUPP, Beijing, China
Polyphony Poetics, MOYA Art Center, Beijing, China
Behind The Appearance, Egg Gallery, Beijing, China
Beyond Three Worlds, 5 Art Center, Beijing, China
Home Art, Eogsion Fumiture Design, Beijing, China
11+6-Rheology, Wang Yi Qiong Art Space, Beijing, China
Art Basel Hong Kong, UCCA, Hong Kong
Spirit Of Place, Loftooo Art Space, Shanghai, China
Out of Image·Trace And Linearity, SZ Art Center, Beijing, China
2013
Extraordinary Changes·Nomination Exhibition Of Young Artists From Hunan Houhu International Arts District, Hunan, China
Gift, Up Space, Beijing, China
Anti-GMO, Tang Conternporary Art Center, Beijing, China
Diversity·China International Youth Arts Festival Contemporary Youth Arts Exhibition, Bloom Gallery, Beijing, China
Korea-China Exchange of Contempopary Art, 508Gallery, Korea
A Surname·Contemporary Exhibition, Min Sheng Art Club, Beijing, China
DIVERSITY 2013, ARTrium@MCI, Y2ARTS, Singapore
So Young Retrospecl and Reconstruction Chinese Contemporary Young Artists Exhibition, Manet Club Beijing, Beijing, China
Shape of Thought: Chapter1, Art Alliance Gallery, Beijing, China
Impression•Image, Gallery beijing Space, Beijing, China
2012
AAF Singapore 2012, Y2ARTS, Singapore
Memory Lost and Found·Young Artists Exhibition, Gallery beijing Space, Beijing, China
The First Linzhou China International Friendship& Peace Arts Festival, Linzhou, China
Made in China Contemporary Chinese artists Luciano Benetton Collection, Milano
2011
Art Archives Of the 80's Generation ( I ) , Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China
Presistent, ION Art Gallery, Singapore
Deconstruction and Style·Chinese Contemporary Art invitation Exhibition, Manet Club Beijing, Beijing, China
2010
Vidth Purity·Contemporary Art Invitation Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art Beijing, Beijing, China
The Hunan Young Man Contemporary Art Exhibition, Sunshine Internaiona Museum, Beijing, China
The New Graphic Arts Exhibition, Korea
2009
The 3rd Exhibition Of Home And Abroad Leadding Artists'works, Korea
+(86)0102-10ContemporaryArtistGroupExhibition, Y2ARTSShowroom, Singapore
Ink Society, Sunshine Internaiona Museum, Beijing, China
2007
HE·China and Foreign Artists Exhibition, A-space, Beijing
Life in SongZhang, Songzhuang Art Center, Beijing, China
2006
Edge*Yuen·China and Foreign Artists Exhibition, ComfortableSpace, Beijing, China
2005
Fifferentia and Construction, Hebei, China
2004
Left Right·United Art Exhibition, HunNan, China