Blurring the boundaries: combining a selected painting technique with certain Chinese philosophical concepts to produce outcomes that induce contemplation

摘要

This research project, Blurring the Boundaries: combining a selected painting technique with certain Chinese philosophical concepts to produce outcomes that induce contemplation, has grown out of my personal involvement and participation in certain Chinese philosophical concepts and physical practices, which have defined the ways I view the world and affected my approach to painting. Following a time of illness I searched for alternative ways to regain health and found the practice of Zhineng Qigong and the philosophy of the Tao beneficial in that they brought me calmness and peace along with feelings of strength and health. In this project I explore ways to combine and synthesise these particular cultural practices and visual systems to create paintings that evoke the results of these practices and philosophies; an atmosphere of calmness and contemplation, while also evoking energy and life. I have identified “blurring” as a painting technique that best articulates the complex and often contradictory, Chinese concepts and philosophies of the Tao, Zhineng Qigong and Hunyuan Qi, into works that invite contemplation. Through the use of blurring techniques in painting and with reference to artists such as, Huang Binhong, Gerhard Richter and Zhang Xiaogang, I have experimented with the use of colour and scale to create representations of both natural and artificial objects and elements, which have ‘nature’ at their core. Throughout this project my intention has been to make paintings that induce a sense of contemplation. A further objective has been to enable the viewer to experience some of the results of the practices of Zhineng Qigong, which are calmness, peace and energy.