By: Anne Schulze
In today’s diverse and complex art scene, painting continues to seek its place. Despite the unprecedented changes brought about by technology and media in artistic creation, traditional painting remains a profound way to express human emotions and spiritual values. Renowned painter Ziyang Xie discusses his artistic journey and philosophy in this interview.
Hello, it’s a pleasure to speak with you today. Have you been working on any new series lately? Could you share your recent creative feelings and thoughts?
Hello! I have been trying out a new series recently, focusing more on people during the creative process, hoping to present works that convey a sense of life and space through characters and specific situations. The overall painting language continues the relatively consistent expression from my landscape works, emphasizing lyricism and scripturality, focusing on expressing a natural state of life in humans. In addition to expanding this theme, I also plan to paint a series of large-scale floral works, maintaining the same expressive language and style as before.
Compared to your earlier landscape series, your recent creations have undergone significant changes in both color and object handling, becoming more refined. What is behind these significant changes? How do individual experiences and subjective internal choices influence your style transformation?
The refinement of the language is driven by subjective agency. Because the exploratory angles in the works from previous years were complex and the overall appearance lacked a clear personal language feature, which did not form a pattern representing my personality, I felt pressured. I believe that the primary goal of a painter is to resolve issues of language appearance and system, requiring clear pursuits and exploratory paths. In the exploration process, continuously feeling the internal changes without end mainly highlights changes in self-mood, personal cultivation, and aesthetic interests. As individual experiences in reality gradually mature, aligning with the most genuine needs of the heart, the so-called transformation of painting style naturally emerges and is actually a result of following subjective internal choices.
If every painter has internally sought their own “style,” at what stage for you did this stable style begin to form? What decisive painting practices were involved in this phase?
Finding one’s own “style” is an unavoidable question and a required course for every painter, just like a label representing one’s image and way of speaking, which everyone hopes is independent and unique. I’m not sure if I have fully formed my own “style” yet. However, since 2020, my painting language has been relatively unified, which I consider finding the ideal visual feeling I currently seek, the result of years of continuous search and exploration, hoping to continue this trend. Art is endless, and truly good works are both artistic and spiritual, extensions of culture, purifying the spiritual values in everyone’s heart.
Many of your works are created outdoors; the serene breath and subtle immersion in nature described in the works seem to deeply influence your painting process. How does the typical plein air process inspire and affect your creative work?
The serene breath and subtle immersion described are quite apt; outdoor plein air is just a form, with the key being how to paint, and painting the landscape within one’s heart is fundamental. Sometimes the reason I enjoy outdoor plein air is in exploring the relationship between humans and nature, which is also an immersive experience. Different natural landscapes bring different initial feelings to people. For someone like me, who places intuition first, this is very important.
In the contemporary art ecosystem with its diversity, complexity, and the involvement of more information media and technological forces, how do you view the value and future direction of painting creation?
The value and future direction of painting creation in the current art ecosystem, I believe, should respect the human element more. Art and technology should be inseparable, but some aspects are irreplaceable by technology, especially in artistic creation. As the main body of creation, human thoughts are firstly irreplaceable, emotions are not constant, aesthetic tastes vary, and cultural cultivation differs. This irreplaceability in artistic creation is most precious, and the different aesthetic experiences that works bring to people is where their value lies. It’s difficult to predict the future direction; I think we should coexist harmoniously, emphasizing technological development while not neglecting human power, complementing each other, and coexisting like humans and nature in harmony. I still place more importance on self-awareness and inner exploration in a very natural and stable state, quietly creating, even if it serves no purpose, simply writing and expressing, returning to the essence of the work, experiencing the reveries and emotions it brings, with sincerity and joy.
Would you place yourself within this open artistic ecosystem to evaluate your creations, or are you more focused on a natural, self-following path? What does painting mean to you personally?
This question strikes deeply at my heart; I naturally choose the latter. Because in recent years, whether in exploring paths or adjusting my mindset, I have been digging into how to follow myself, primarily self-reflective, pursuing inner self-awareness and joy in life, forming touching power through compassion and humility. The open art ecosystem has not completely disconnected, but I study myself more, with an attitude of keeping to myself and letting things take their natural course, which fits my understanding of all current things. To me personally, painting means healing, healing oneself, not demanding, not forcing, just a natural expression, feeling, thinking, cultivating, aesthetically pleasing, technical, expressive, etc., all naturally, never limiting myself on how to paint, emptying myself, the most direct is the purest and most sincere. Picking up the brush and enjoying the process, as attention gradually focuses, slowly forgetting everything around, even neglecting my own body and thoughts, only the brush and canvas communicating, all material becoming transparent and void, yet feeling my spirit fuller and more complete than ever, body and spirit as one.
Published by: Martin De Juan
