Deep Breathing Field

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Liú Yung-jen

 

 

“Deep Breathing Field” is a lesson in uninterrupted thinking about painting and space. It is not only a philosophical belief in both the present and eternity, but is also an interpretation of current creative attitude. My attempt to explore the opportunity for opening up the field of vision gradually led to the visual image of paradox during the artistic transformation. A profound attitude of interconnection between breathing and drawing was formed, and I used this mindset of self-discovery as a reference point for artistic progress. I believe that a painting is an expression of personal view on life. Artists create visual images by painting, yet to avoid becoming trapped in rigid stereotypes, they must sincerely and passionately become profoundly aware of the essence of art.

 

Breathing is a kind of molecular exchange or molecular-infiltration that results in the gain of energy through conversion. Anybody can create as long as they are breathing. The difference is that some people disbelieve while others willingly give up creating, but no one can give up breathing. I will not give up either, for together, both move forward in steady perseverance. Breathing is an instinct as well as a method. I live because of my instinct to breathe, but by using specialized training, I involve my breathing in my drawing to deeper penetrate the ethereal. Breathing is the most primitive and easiest, yet most intricate and mysterious thing to do. When I give up everything, the very last thing I have left is breathing. Breathing is an in and out exchange, a breathing dialogue of oxygen. Thoughts can also breathe, and are the oxygen of the soul. As long as you are inspired by my work, a two-way dialogue exists between me and you. When feelings are triggered, dialogues result. With in and out exchange, there is breathing, and therefore life. After stripping off all nouns, breathing is the only remaining verb I have. The triangular pile of yellow husks is the most embryonic stabilizer left after all living matter have been peeled away. That triangular bundle is tasked with the existing tug of war between posture and environment. It must move, and attempts to resist the surrounding blocks of colors and achieve an evenly matched angle with the environment.

 

I am usually fascinated with the shapes of alien forms that emerge after their surfaces have disintegrated. These are the true internal forms within the exterior. They are the revealed subconscious forms after intellectuality has been disassembled. Becoming reacquainted with these images is a pleasure because they are real, simple and genuine. With the mutual compromise and block out between shapes and between colors, a new order and musical movement are formed, and everything happens as naturally as breathing. My painting progresses with the mutual interlacing of arcs and blocks, and I attempted to make them appear light yet full of insight. The starlight on the surface of the massive block fades in and out, and has the power of dissolution and even the greater power to imply space. I am inclined toward conveying elegant communication through the silence of the block surface. I believe that the art of painting is the hub of life creation. Like the portal to my breath, it proudly remains standing through trials and tribulations. Hidden in the seemingly random and chance encounter of the space construction are prescribed coordination and non-coordination.

 

An image is an excerpt of life; it is the expression of life's dilemmas and experience rather than life's decorative object. Does my attraction to duality reflect the Gemini inside me? I have wondered, but have not found the answer. Anyone can be caught in the antagonism of duality; it is a problem in society, in life, and in art philosophy. Crystallization and dissolution embody duality. Inhaling and exhaling, with and without, heritage and subversion, fullness and emptiness, big and small, figure and ground, dark blue, bright yellow and sky blue...... how should the integration of these

mutually circulating philosophical perspectives with the crystalline image of personal original life force be manifested in a piece of work?

 

The encounter between the starlight and the triangular bodies under the rhythm of breathing permeates into a deep state of consciousness. It is a long, essential journey of natural transformation that is both a perpetual cycle of repetition as well as a boundless process of change.