19 Mar Unrestrained life – the form and formless art of Jhycheng Wu
Chen Kuang-Yi /
Professor at the Department of Fine Art, National Taiwan University
Dean of Fine Art College, National Taiwan University of Art
Wu Jhycheng has had to face the complex issue of cultural identity due to his multi-cultural experiences: born in Nantou as a member of the Taiwanese Plains Indigenous Peoples, he started training in the studio of Lee Shih-Chiao aged 16 and left Taiwan for pursuing a degree in the National School of Fine Arts Lyon at the age of 28 (1988). Since then he had been living and working in France, creating a unique creative thinking and artistic style.
Known for his large-scale portraits, Wu frequently performs “live painting”: a canvas “as wide as my arms and as tall as my height[1]” is stretched and ready for the artist’s challenge. Holding a broad brush, the artist’s intensity and energy enable him to complete a painting in a short period of time, impressing the audience and creating an unforgettable experience for them. A canvas painted in such manner is not merely a painting, for the theory “Action Painting” suggested by Harold Rosenberg in 1952 to describe the working process of Jackson Pollock, in the manner of an “arena”, or a “battle” (bataille) as stated by Jhycheng Wu himself. From the “formless” to the “form” (Gestaltung) which is quickly built up, the artist does not stop here, but progresses towards “informalism” (informel) and raises a passionate debate between shaping and medium. Regardless Wu’s mastery control of the form, his action paintings cannot be catergorised as a display of virtuosity. The from is not the artist’s final aim, for a simple swipe with a wooden stick or a palette knife could break the order and bring everything back to a chaotic state. However, chaos can also be seen as a type of orderliness, or the beginning of a new order. When a completed shape is mopped, brushed, wiped, flattened, spread and the paints are carried to nearby or images further away, a uniformed, smooth and even surface appears. For all the elements are evenly merged, the excess and extra elements would be discarded. The details of the paintings are clearly visible when the image is freshly formed, but it is merely a faulty reiteration of the world, and the destruction of the picture is as irrespirable as a puzzle. During this process, the artist willingly gives up his command of form and medium and leave it all to chance and coincidence.
Such practice is not unusual. As Georges Bataille writes in 1929 regarding the idea of “formless” (informe): “formless is not solely an adjective describing its meaning, but a word for reclassification (déclasser), for we tend to think that each object is limited within its form.[2]” We are aware that the advancement of the “formless” is to make way for the “form” (or temporarily), for it to volatile, flow, extend and be unfocused; in other words, all the uncertainties, opportunities and alterations; furthermore, to expose the quality and condition of the paints instead of burying it under the serious depiction of shape and contour. Additionally, it is for the act of the artist to be seen, no matter the progress of the work. Moreover, it is for the existence of the artist to be seen, spiritually or physically.
We would be wrong to believe Jhycheng Wu as a practitioner of abstract expressionism (expressionism abstract) or informalism (art informel), for he has never been abstract. No matter now blurred the images are, one could always define the subjects. One is reminded of the works of Gerhard Richter upon seeing the clouded effect Wu has created via the action of scratching and sweeping the paint, but he does not belong to the party of the photographic realism. Wu’s works contain no traces of the use of photography, but indications of painting “plein air” can be found instead; he does not seek for calmness and objectiveness, but is passionate and subjective. The enlarged portrait heads, flowers and animals remind one artists such as Andy Warhol or Alex Katz. These paintings are not empty symbols nor artificial images created by the media, but are lively subjects from the real life. So how should one position Jhycheng Wu?
The similarities between Wu and Richter’s “blurriness” are not shown in the techniques or the effects, but in the purpose and intention of doing so. Why the blurriness? When Richter was questioned about the meaning of subjects that are out of focus, he replied with: “Obviously the blurriness has something to do with my incapacity (incapacité), for I cannot present the reality more clearly. I would rather talk about the relationship between the reality and myself, it is blurry, uncertain, short, fragmented; they are not necessarily related to the works, but merely connected to the reasons I paint.[3]” We do not know if Wu’s blurriness is in anyway associated with his motivations, but the connection between his creations and the reality is certainly definable. Creating is an artist’s expression towards life, whilst his understanding, absorbability, description and perspective, knowledge and concepts assisted with the birth of his painting. Hence a painter does not create “a painting”, he just explores the real world that he lives in with instincts: survival is not a truth that has been told, it is the action of “representation”; it is not an established image but an initiation and composition of form.
Jhycheng Wu explores the world instead of replicating it. Or one could say that he is keen to show his doubts towards this world through his painting skills, hence the audience could sense the conflicts between ordinary subjects and magnificent techniques. Wu’s technical agility and ease (facilité) often divert one’s attention from the subjects, yet his choice of topics are not only humourous and clever but also affectionate. We could easily observe that his subjects come from daily lives: the innocent looking dogs, the children and the elderly beside the dogs from the “Animals” series; the domestic scenes from “Mother and Child” and “Lilies in the Morning”; the leisurely composed blooming flowers, the clearly visible Yushan, Hong Kong, Ming Lake, Paper Church, Elunabi in the “Flowers” series; the presence of the side mirror in “Vineyards by the Rhone” indicates the unrehearsed theme. However, these ordinary, even unexceptional scenes plainly express the painter’s feelings and sentiments. These pictures are not as naïve as one may think, we could distinctly define and determine the link between the artist’s own personal story, history of art, and even history: disregarding the reiteration of the portrait of Vincent van Gogh and the celebrities Wu had painted, the flowers series include plum blossoms, orchids, bamoo, chrysanthemum, forming the “Four Gentlemen of the Flowers”, whilst the Taiwanese landscapes are presentations of his hometown.
Even if Wu has established the subject through painting, it is undeniable that he has wandered away from the subject, or even damaged and denied it. After all, the subject may just be an excuse, an excuse to bring back the contradictions in the representation of paintings. Thus, the artist states: “I do not paint to capture the likeness of the subject, but to express my sentimentality!”
[1] https://ateliersnabis.com/jhycheng-wu/
[2] Georges Bataille, Dictionnaire critique, article ‘Informe’, revue Document, 1929
[3] An interview between Gerhard Richter and Rolf Schon taken place in 1972, taken from Gerhard Richter : Textes, Dijon, 2012, p. 75.