Chaos and Creation in Abstract Landscape Painting
When I began this phase of working towards abstraction, about a year before writing this post in 2021, an idea lodged in my mind. It may sound a little strange, but artists are allowed to entertain unusual ideas. Perhaps we need to. Not every word has to be weighed on a gold scale.
The idea was to bring something like a big bang into a painting: energy, light and colour coming into being, finding one another, competing for their place. A world begins to emerge from their interaction, although none of its forces has yet settled into a final form.
As they compete and draw closer, a possible image takes shape. Yet there is no finished state. Nature keeps changing, and I want the painting to remain open in a similar way: uncertain, but with recognisable features beginning to appear.
To realise that whole vision is beyond an old fellow like me. It belongs somewhere in the Tower of Babel category. Bringing even a few of these thoughts into a painting is difficult enough. Perhaps, with time, I can bring more of them together.
I recently showed this work from the small series:
A Second Attempt
Like the other new works, the painting below was initially put aside. I liked certain passages from the start, but the whole had too many weaknesses. Time can help me gain enough distance to see what needs changing. It can also tempt me to lose the original intention and paint a picture to death. When I wrote this, my plan was to leave it for another week or two before deciding.
Some passages do suggest what I am after: forms breaking out of chaos and beginning to take shape.
The style remains unsettled too. Surrealist elements mingle with expressionism and ideas from Chinese painting. Sky, mountains and water are recognisable, but only as suggestions.
This passage from another unfinished painting comes closer to what I have in mind. I like the strength of the composition alongside the sensitivity of its details.
A Third Attempt
In another attempt, I wanted to include the cosmos and the stars while keeping my feet on the earth. 🙂 The result is far from ideal, but there are things I want to pursue. The quieter colours offer a welcome change. The exaggerated “stars” become a decorative element that brings more light into the painting.
The restrained arrangement of the main forms has a certain appeal to me. For now, it joins the pile of unfinished pictures, in the hope that a little distance will show me how to bring it together without too much intervention.
Rome was not built in a day, and the cosmos took its time too. I will try to be patient and take one step at a time. 😊
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Xieyi Painting | Remembering a Landscape | Landscapes by the Water and in the Mountains
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