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Atmosphere in the Images of Contemporary Chinese Illustrators in Exchange with Western Styles of Depiction
Volkmar Mühleis & Yingda Dong
Abstract
In our contribution, we would like to discuss the depiction of atmosphere in the drawings of contemporary Chinese illustrators, regarding their exchanges with comparable Western styles. Therefore, we first address general structural questions of how to conceptualize the atmosphere in Eastern and Western cultures and then focus on concrete examples of images and contextualize them.
Key Words
logos, dilemma and tetralemma; atmosphere in illustration; Chinese and Western illustration, yesterday and today
1. Atmosphere
In 1974, the Japanese philosopher Tokuryû Yamauchi published the book, Logos and lemma (Rogosu to renma, 山内得立著『ロゴスとレンマ 』).[1] In his study, he compares three traditions of thought: a Western tradition, from Greek antiquity to German Idealism; an Indian tradition, which includes the philosophy of Nāgārjuna; and the Chinese tradition of Daoism. His analysis is concentrated on the instruments of our thinking: logical structures and their conditions. In terms of the three traditions, he principally differentiates Western and Eastern thought, in the following way: Since the Greek philosopher Parmenides, the question of the being of entities is crucial to Western thinking. This question means formally that A is A, or something is what it is. It includes identity in the notion of reality. But how to think of movement, now, in regard to the changing of the world? There must be something contradicting identity, such that A is not staying A, yet becoming B. So, being is structured by the law of identity, by the law of contradiction, and by a law that says identity and its contradiction cannot be true at the same time, namely the law of the excluded third given by Aristotle. According to Yamauchi, these three laws dominated Western thinking up until the dialectics of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in the nineteenth century (and in modifications by Immanuel Kant before that). Hegel put the second law in first place, starting with contradiction as a structural principle and developing then a dialectical process toward identity. As a former student of the phenomenologist Edmund Husserl and of Martin Heidegger, Yamauchi states that the logical instruments of Western thinking still culminate in the dialectics of Hegel and are characterized in three ways: by logos, which is the stated reflection of being and its conceptualization by identity as reality and also as logical form; by contradiction, as principle of movement in the world as it is in our minds; and by the excluded third, as a law holding for our relationship with the world and with ourselves. The ancient Greek word ‘atmosphere,’ meaning vapor enveloping a round form, a denotation derived from ἀτμός (atmós) and σφαῖρα (sphaîra), would in this tradition be interpreted in a dialectical way, starting from contradiction and reaching for identity. When is an atmosphere a proper atmosphere? That might then be a question to be answered by giving a definition of the phenomenon, on which we may agree or not, so that at least we know that we share what we are talking about.
Eastern thinking, according to Yamauchi, differs from this Western approach in at least two ways that he discusses by comparing the thinking of Laozi (老子) with that of Nāgārjuna. The origins of the figure of Laozi and Daoism reach back to the sixth century BCE, while the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna lived ca. 150-250 CE. Instead of aiming for a directness of identity (A is A), Eastern thinking in general, Yamauchi claims, is addressing indirectness. So, to deal with indirectness, what stands in the foreground is not logos and its principle of identity, but lemma. What does ‘lemma’ mean? The ancient Greek word ‘λῆμμα (lêmma) refers to a premise or assumption and is derived from λαμβάνω (lambánō), “I take.” It might seem strange that Yamauchi is using two Greek notions to describe differences in Western and Eastern thinking. But, as we will see, his analysis serves a structure of thinking that can be interculturally shared, including useful notions from all traditions that are based on universal, anthropological assumptions.
The Daoist thinking, Yamauchi states, would develop its reflections via the logical instrument of the di-lemma, where two parallel assumptions seem to contradict each other. He gives the example of the Daoist thinker Zhuangzi, (莊子), who quotes Confucius (孔子) and his response to Yanhui. In the relevant passage, Yanhui recognizes that Mengsun does not seem to suffer from the death of his mother. Confucius answers that Mengsun has depleted it, gotten beyond knowing, become sad without being sad, and reached the bottom of sadness—he forgot it.[2] Departing from the dilemma, Daoist thinking accentuates movement not by contradiction, as Hegel proposed, but by an emptying out that is more than negating as opposing, that is, by changing movement out of linear relations toward different mindsets.
The nuance present in between the ancient Chinese and the ancient Indian traditions, brought out by Yamauchi, lies in the difference between thinking in di-lemma or tri-lemma, as Nāgārjuna emphasized. In total, the tetralemma of the Indian philosopher is included in four options. When he focusses on these four options, Yamauchi is focusing on thinking that contains all three Western principles of thought in addition to the Chinese structuring of thinking in multiple dilemmas. The four options are: first, something is what it is (A is A, identity); second, something is not what it is (A is not A, contradiction); third, something is what it is as well as not what it is (A is A, and A is not A, the complementarity of identity and contradiction); and fourth, something is neither what it is nor what it is not (the denial of the complementarity of identity and contradiction). The third option is the crucial one, the tetralemma—the excluded third is overruled by stating a possible complementarity of identity and contradiction. Think of the example of Zhuangzi. Yanhui was irritated by the behavior of Mengsun: Why was he not sad in facing the death of his mother? He did not seem to be identical with the state he was expected to be in, but neither was he contradicting it, since he was not happy either. Moreover, he lived through the complementarity of being sad and experiencing the changing of it, not toward happiness, but toward forgetting even this complementarity, by reaching a state beyond just argumentation and knowing, as Confucius said, a state of incorporation. In the presence of Mengsun, Yanhui did not understand the atmosphere anymore, one could say.
So, if we are focusing on the question of atmosphere in an intercultural comparison, Yamauchi offers several aspects. He holds an integrating view of different intellectual traditions, by accentuating benefits from all these traditions, to deepen the understanding of the addressed phenomenon. This means concretely: He values the emphasis on definition in the Western tradition, but criticizes the notion of the excluded third; he values the opening toward indirect dynamics in Daoist thought, just missing a logical systematization of it;[3] and therefore, he highlights the logic Nāgārjuna presented, as a possible coherence for implications from these traditions and others like them, as a starting point for further debate.[4]
Atmosphere, one might say, is generated via the four options mentioned: mist, for example, appears as mist; mist is not appearing as mist anymore; mist appears as mist, but at the same time not as mist; and mist neither appeared as mist nor not as mist anymore. The first option could be the concrete experience of mist; the second, a drastic change in the appearance of the phenomenon, by vanishing for example; the third could be a poetic perception of a natural phenomenon where mist appears as mist, but at the same time as a veil (or possibly an artificial staging of mist in an exhibition, where there is proper being of mist and also a not-being of real mist at the same time, as in the contemporary works of Fujiko Nakaya[5]); the fourth could be the emptiness of mist, neither being nor not being there, not as negation of being but as the potential of becoming, under certain conditions, the potentiality of wetness, air, wind, space, circulation, stillness. So, Yamauchi is inviting us to take a walk with Parmenides, Aristotle, Hegel, Laozi and Nāgārjuna through the mist and to have a conversation about this atmosphere together.
After these introducing remarks, let us now focus on examples of contemporary illustrators from China, how they are interpreting Eastern and Western traditions in their images, and how atmosphere is presented here.
2. Current trends of contemporary illustration practice in China in relation to the depictions of atmosphere
With the rise of computer technology in the 1990s, the graphic style of illustration has emerged as a new digital aesthetic. The shape-driven style plays well with digital media and even motion media and animation.[6] Due to globalization and market factors, digital graphic-style illustration gained popularity in China around 2012 and has been used extensively in Chinese commercial advertising illustration, motion graphic design, and children’s picture books. Chinese illustrators have widely started to imitate and learn from this style.
The graphic-style illustration focuses on the presentation of objective information (as mentioned before, formally expressed as “A is A”) that results in a more rational and straightforward pictorial atmosphere. The trend toward digital graphic style illustration has led to a relative decline in the choice of hand drawing techniques in the community of Chinese illustrators. In digital techniques, the absence of the natural intensity of the hand and the unpredictable texture created by drawing materials, together with the dominance of geometric shapes in the image-building process, makes it even harder to deviate from the result of images made with the aim of presenting objective information. (As mentioned before, there are three other options that are not based on the identification “A is A”.) The presentation of the pictorial atmosphere in illustration is therefore showing a high degree of global homogeneity.
In 2008, China became the largest source of international students in the world.[7] An increasing number of young Chinese artists began to study illustration in the West. These young Chinese illustrators were confronted with almost the same questions in their illustration practice: Under the influence of the global trend of digital graphic style illustration, how is it possible to reexamine, extract, and integrate the different visual traditions of China and the West? How do you form a personal illustration language to present a pictorial atmosphere with your own identity?
Based on the conceptualization of atmosphere in section 1, we will analyze how Chinese illustrators with Western study experience “take in” different strategies from Chinese and Western visual traditions to deal with “shape” and to achieve a personal pictorial atmosphere in their illustration practice.
2.1 The integration of silhouette generalization approaches and the writing feature of Chinese painting
In digital graphic style illustration, the silhouette of the object is generalized by a geometrical approach, which provides clear information about the object, resulting in a direct and objective pictorial atmosphere (fig. 1).[8] Therefore, to figure out other ways to generalize the silhouette of the object besides the geometrical approach becomes the first task that many Chinese illustrators investigate when exploring their visual language.
2.1.1 Applying the writing feature to deform a realistic silhouette
Yingda Dong (董颖达) did his high school study in the arts in Beijing.In China, most art students in high school go through a long period of studying “realistic” portrait drawing. The training follows the Soviet tradition of social realistic art (fig. 2). In this style, the silhouette of the portrait precisely presents how the outline of the model looks. In Yingda Dong’s work Portrait of Norman Reedus (fig. 3), he follows this tradition, depicting the silhouette in a way that is almost identical to a portrait in photography.
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In comparison to this, Yingda Dong states, “when I came to Belgium study at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, I incorporated the line tradition of Chinese Xieyi painting (or “written idea” form) [fig. 4] to “write” the outline of the shape, but still with the aim of presenting an accurate silhouette of the model. In my series Redrawing Guernica (fig.5 ), this integration of two traditions allows the image to generate a paradoxical atmosphere of both consequential seriousness and undefined spontaneity.”[9]
2.1.2 Applying the writing feature to deform a symbolic
Chinese comic artist and illustrator Anusman, previously known as Wang Shuo (王烁), finished his first bachelor’s degree in printmaking at Tsinghua University in Beijing. After graduation, he went to Annecy in France, where he first did his second bachelor’s in fine arts at Annecy School of Arts, and then in Angouleme he completed his masters degree in comics at European School of Visual Arts.
In his illustrations and comics, Anusman applies a combination of the Chinese writing feature together with geometric shapes to generalize the silhouette of his characters. For instance, in his book 门先生 (Mr. Door), he made the silhouette of the character’s face into a circle, in which the eyes sometimes appear as two dots (fig. 6). Based on this geometrical approach, Anusman further deforms the shapes in the process of “writing” the characters. He draws the outline of the shape with a combination of a few transitional lines that detach the silhouette of the character from the precise shape of a realistic model (fig. 7). This technique corresponds to “quitting form to achieve resemblance” proposed by Chinese poet Sikong Tu (司空图) [837-908] in The Album of Sikong Tu’s Modes of Poetry[10]: not being bound by the similarity of form but even conveying the “inner divinity” of the object through its deformation. Therefore, with the combination of these two methods, the characters in Anusman’s drawings are in a livelier state, which suits the atmosphere of his stories: Through the eyes of Mr. Door, an ordinary person who lives in the big city, the story of the unexceptional life of a small character in the era of change is told in a way that is humorous and lively, with even a touch of irony.
2.2 The vague, drab, and indistinct on contour line[11]
In digital graphic style illustration, the contour line of the shape has the visual feature of being clean, smooth, and opaque. This feature of digital graphic style illustration is based on the imitation of the characteristics in screen printing (fig. 8). The clarity of the contour line of particular shapes is an important part of illustrators’ explorations.
2.2.1 The vague yet visible contour line
In his sketches, the French painter Georges Seurat (1859-1891) used conté crayon on a handmade textured paper called ‘Michallet.’ He controlled the contour line of the shapes to create an effect between clarity and a slight fuzziness, which gives a non-specified atmosphere to his works (fig. 9). In speaking for himself about Seurat, Yingda Dong (董颖达) states:
I was fascinated by the atmosphere he created when I studied in Beijing at Communication University of China, and I imitated a similar effect with pencils on rough paper (fig. 10). When I came to study in Belgium at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, I started to figure out how to reproduce this atmosphere by applying Chinese techniques. In the painting of the old master Mi Youren (米友仁), he applied the texture-strokes technique to depict the edges of the mountains (fig. 11), which resemble the effect of Seurat’s sketches. Inspired by this technique, in my work Late night subway, I used dry brushes on the edges of the hair of the figure to keep it a bit blurry, while still being able to see the edges, which gives the characters a calm but slightly dynamic atmosphere on the metro (fig. 12).[12]
2.2.2 The vague and invisible contour line
In Edgar Degas’s painting Dancers at the Barre, a portion of the contour lines on the dancers’ skirt are highly defocused, which makes it hard to see what the edges of the shapes exactly look like. This technique creates a sense of movement and a hazy atmosphere in his works (fig. 13). From the perspective of traditional Chinese painting, Liang Kai (粱楷) [1140-1210] applied a Xieyi approach to achieve a similar effect with the figure’s shapes (fig. 14), which inspired illustrator Fu Fang (付舫), an artist who studied illustration in the United States at Maryland Institute College of Art. She applies this technique to her works in watercolor. This creates an ambiguity for the viewers who seek to recognize what the shapes present. In this way, the image also achieves an atmosphere in-between both the imaginary and the real (fig. 15).
2.3 The transparency of shape
Regarding the factor of transparency, the digital graphic style illustration follows the image feature of silkscreen. In silkscreen printing, the image is built up by a process of overlaying several color layers. There are two types of corresponding overlay effects: transparency and opacity. The digital graphic style illustration mimics these features within the process of photoshop by adding up different layers on top of each other and combining different modes of the layers to recreate the effect of a transparent or opaque overlay in silk screen printing (fig. 16).
2.3.1 The combination of transparent and opaque overlapping layers
The transparent overlapping effect of color layers is also present in Chinese painting. In the work, Crouched at the edge of the water, Chinese painter Shi Tao (石涛) [1642-1707] used Chinese water ink to depict the grass and leaves in a multi-layered transparent effect, which produced a rich vibrancy of grey tunes in a transparent state (fig. 17). Regarding his own work, What is going on, Yingda Dong states: “I created the overlapping layers that combine the features from Shi Tao’s water ink painting approach and silk screen printing in opaque ink, to create a mysterious pictorial atmosphere” (fig. 18).
2.3.2 The transparent overlapping of color layer and line layer
In the painting, Conversation at the edge of the void, from Shi Tao, the artist painted with semi-transparent ink on the background the cloud, the water ,and the mountain overlapped together. On the foreground, the contour line from the trees is also present with the darker color. We can see that this painting creates a semi-transparent spatial relationship between the cloud, the water, the mountain, and the trees (fig.19). In the drawing, Tale à la Hoffmann, from Swiss-German artist Paul Klee (1879-1940), we recognize a second layer only through lines on top of the first layer of color, and this presents a completely transparent spatial relationship with the first underlying layer (fig. 20). Ren Asi(任阿四)studied fine arts at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts in Italy; he adapted both methods. In his painting, he combines these two approaches to create a spatial relationship of varying degrees of transparency between the layers of lines and color, creating an exceptionally flexible and relaxed atmosphere (fig. 21).
2.3.3 The transparent overlapping of several line layers
Another approach to creating a transparent spatial relationship is presented in the work of German expressionist George Grosz (1893-1959). In his line drawing, he used lines to create a self-portrait showing himself as artist and the buildings behind him, without filling in the shapes with color. The figure on the foreground and buildings in the background overlap in the pictorial space (fig. 22). Yingda Dong: “In my drawing What is dragging me back, the figures on the top left corner of the image are made by lines and are overlapped together, which alludes to a kind of chaotic atmosphere” (fig. 23).[13]
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2.4 Mist and cloud: decorative shape, blank space, and fluid texture
In digital graphic style illustrations, cloud and mist normally would appear in a decorative style of shapes that have the feature of geometric and clear contour lines. For example, in the work, Happy Pony, by illustrator Megan Du, the clouds are generalized in a flat manner and some rough textures are added to the interior of the shapes to create a decorative effect (fig. 24).
2.4.1 Leaving blank space as cloud and mist
In Chinese painting, besides evoking clouds and mist, leaving blank space is also used as an approach to create clouds and mist. In the work The Nine Dragons, Chen Rong (陈荣) [1200-1266] applied the approach to draw part of the body of the dragon, while leaving the blank space as the shape of cloud (fig. 25). This technique was applied in the work of Zhang Shang (张上), an artist from Hangzhou, who studied animation in France at Gobelins l’école de l’image. With the blank space on the horizon resembling the shape of a mist, together with the little figure in the foreground running toward the horizon line, he creates an image with a dense atmosphere (fig. 26).
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Another possibility for leaving blank space is to blur the details of the surface that is covered by the mist. In the work, Nocturne at Trafalgar Square, from American painter James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), instead of clearly depicting all the details of the building in the distance, he retained the outline of the building, combining it with the dry brush technique “scumbling” to paint the silhouette of the building. In this way, he established a soft edged misty evening atmosphere, while the audience can still see the building in the distance (fig.27). In comparison, Yingda Dong adds: “In my work, An afternoon in Moderna, I applied a similar approach to the church in the background where the details on the surface of the church are barely depicted; thus, I create a foggy atmospheric effect” (fig. 28).[14]
2.4.2 Fluid texture as cloud and mist
Water-based materials allow artists to create a fluid texture in the image. Ni Zan (倪瓒) [1301-1374] uses a vignetting technique of water and ink to render in painting the trunk of a tree (fig. 29), and this approach can also be applied to the depiction of clouds and mist. Fu Fang was inspired by this technique when she used watercolor to make the mysterious mist surrounding the figure in her drawing; she has created the atmosphere of an abstract mist by this approach (fig. 30).
3. Conclusion
In the first part of this essay, we said that four logical relations can be used to structure ways to perceive, imagine, and think of a phenomenon such as atmosphere in the common horizon of Eastern and Western philosophy. These four options were expressed as follows; “mist for example appears as mist; mist is not appearing as mist anymore; mist appears as mist, but at the same time not as mist; and mist neither appeared as mist nor not as mist anymore.” In the second part, we analyzed visual depictions of the atmosphere in images from contemporary Chinese illustrators who relate to Western references. Here, we recognized two points: first, (a) illustration focused on “the digital graphic style” in the context of globalization at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and this style has been popularized by many Chinese artists interested in creating images for “the presentation of objective information (as mentioned before, formally stated as “A is A”) that results in a more rational and straightforward pictorial atmosphere”; and second, (b) when China became in 2008 the biggest source of international students in the world, in fine arts, too, many young Chinese illustrators integrated and changed influences from East and West by creating alternative ways of depicting atmosphere. The results of these inventions contain among others the following characteristics: paradoxical atmosphere, non-specified atmosphere, a calm but slightly dynamic atmosphere, atmosphere of in between both imaginary and real, mysterious pictorial atmosphere, exceptionally flexible and relaxed atmosphere, chaotic atmosphere, and atmosphere of an abstract mist. Obviously, these images transcend the more straightforward approach of delivering objective information.
Yamauchi reminds us that connotations such as “paradoxical,” “non-specified,” “in-between,” “chaotic,” or “abstract” can be linked to the first two logical options, known as the Law of Identity and the Law of Contradiction；at the same time, descriptions such as “calm but slightly dynamic” or “exceptionally flexible and relaxed” are used to address a more complex, situated, and indirect relationality. This different sort of rationality leads beyond the first two laws mentioned toward the third and fourth logical options that Yamauchi was referring to: the complementarity of identity and contradiction, as well as a relation of neither/nor which can be framed as emptiness compared to fullness (and not as ontological nothingness in contrast with being). So, we see a shifting of Western and Eastern conceptions, in the works of Chinese illustrators with experiences from Eastern and Western imaginary. Compared to the period before, this shifting since 2008 is strongly related to the mobility of Chinese illustrators while working as students to study. This means globalized standards in illustration-making shift, too, allowing more cultural influences, by dissociating from dominant Western patterns. Purity is broken up, in favor of an integration of multiple logical ways, as Yamauchi outlines as a prospect.
Volkmar Mühleis
volkmar.muhleis@luca-arts.be
Dr. Volkmar Mühleis is philosopher and senior researcher at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels and Ghent, Belgium. His recent publications contain the monographies Goodbye to Morrissey – An Essay on Art and Morals (Ghent: Grafische Cel, 2021) and Girl with Dead Bird – Intercultural Observations (Leuven/New York: Leuven and Cornell University Press, 2018).
Yingda Dong
yingdadongillustrator@gmail.com
Yingda Dong is an illustrator and Ph.D. researcher at LUCA School of Arts/KU Leuven. His research focuses on the integration of Chinese and Western visual traditions in illustration practice. His recent publications include the picture book, The Journey of Matisse (马蒂斯的旅行) (Nanjing: Nanjing University Press, 2023), the children’s book,The stump with crooked head (歪脑袋木头桩) (Beijing: Tian Tian Publisher, 2023), and the self-published zine, A Conversation About The Seasons (Ghent, 2020).
Published on December 10, 2024.
Cite this article: Volkmar Mühleis & Yingda Dong, “Atmosphere in the Images of Contemporary Chinese Illustrators in Exchange with Western Styles of Depiction,” Contemporary Aesthetics, Special Volume 12 (2024) accessed date.
List of figures
Fig. 1 Megan Du, Illustration for Bussinessweek, 2022. Digital 8.73 × 5.3 cm, https://www.instagram.com/p/CeO6UPTrFKP/?img_index=1 (Last accessed on October 17, 2023).
Fig. 2 Ilya Repin, Barge Haulers on the Volga, 1870–3. Oil on canvas, 131.5 × 281 cm., Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barge_Haulers_on_the_Volga#/media/File:Ilia_Efimovich_Repin_(1844-1930)_-_Volga_Boatmen_(1870-1873).jpg.
Fig. 3 Yingda Dong, Portrait of Norman Reedus, 2012. Pencil on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm., https://www.flickr.com/(last accessed on November 29, 2024).
Fig. 4 Shi Tao, The Daffodils, 1694. Chinese ink on paper, 31.2 × 20.4 cm., https://www.wikiart.org/en/shitao/the-daffodils-1694 (Last accessed on October 17, 2023).
Fig. 5 Yingda Dong, Redrawing Guernica, 2023. Ink on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm., https://yingdadong.com/Redrawing-Guernica (last accessed on August 19, 2024).
Fig. 6 Anusman, Mr. Door (门先生), 2017. Chinese ink on paper, 13.5 × 20.3 cm., New Star Press. https://www.sohu.com/a/204695869_652937 (Last accessed on October 17, 2023).
Fig. 7 Anusman, Flower Arranging, 2019. Ink on rice paper, 67 × 50 cm., https://docent-art.com/artworks/56321 (Last accessed on August 16, 2024).
Fig. 8 Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1964. Acrylic, silk screen ink on canvas, 61.3 × 61 cm., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/761208 (Last accessed on August 19, 2024).
Fig. 9 Georges Seurat, Trombone player, 1887. Conté crayon on paper, 30.5 × 23 cm., Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia. https://www.wikiart.org/en/georges-seurat/trombone-player-1887 (Last accessed on October 21, 2023).
Fig. 10 Dong Yingda, Lonely Fantasy, 2016. Pencil, digital, 15 × 15 cm., https://yingdadong.cargo.site/Lonely-Fantasy-2016 (last accessed on June 17, 2022).
Fig. 11 Mi Youren (米友仁), Rare views of Xiao Xiang, 1135. Chinese ink on paper, 19.8 × 289.5 cm., The Palace Museum, Beijing. https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B1%B3%E5%8F%8B%E4%BB%81#/media/File:%E7%B1%B3%E5%8F%8B%E4%BB%81%E6%BD%87%E6%B9%98%E5%A5%87%E8%A7%82%E5%9B%BE%E5%8D%B7.png (Last accessed on October 21, 2023).
Fig. 12 Dong Yingda, Late night subway, 2020. Chinese ink and pencil on paper, 21 × 29.7 cm., https://yingdadong.cargo.site/Late-night-subway (last accessed on June 17, 2022).
Fig. 13 Edgar Degas, Dancers at the Barre, 1888. Oil on canvas, 130.1 × 97.7 cm., The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC,USA. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edgar_Degas_-_Dancers_at_the_Barre_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg (Last accessed onAugust 19, 2024).
Fig. 14 Liang Kai, Immortal in Splashed Ink (潑墨仙人), Song Dynasty (960-1279). Ink on paper, 48.7 × 27.7 cm., National Palace Museum, Taipei. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Immortal_in_Splashed_Ink.jpg (Last accessed on October 17, 2023).
Fig. 15 Fu Fang, Silent Moments 6 – a fake comic, 2017, Watercolor on paper and photoshop, 22.86 cm. x 30.48 cm., https://www.instagram.com/p/BW1VLDzgonV/ (last accessed on August 16, 2024).
Fig. 16 Yanjun Chen, Where is the pause button in my life, 2022. Digital, 20 × 30 cm., https://www.instagram.com/p/CdDCcf6sT6G/?img_index=1 (last accessed on October 16, 2023).
Fig. 17 Shi Tao, Crouched at the edge of the water, 1690. Chinese ink and color on paper, 38×24.5 cm., https://www.wikiart.org/en/shitao/crouched-at-the-edge-of-the-water-1690 (last accessed on October 19 , 2023).
Fig. 18 Dong Yingda, What is going on, 2021. Pencil, Monoprint, Digital combination, 31 × 23.5 cm., https://yingdadong.cargo.site/Printmaking (last accessed on June 17, 2022).
Fig. 19 Shi Tao, Conversation at the edge of the void, 1698. Chinese ink on paper, 27 × 16.3 cm., https://www.wikiart.org/en/shitao/conversation-at-the-edge-of-the-void-1698 (last accessed on October 19, 2023).
Fig. 20 Paul Klee, Tale à la Hoffmann, 1921. Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper, 31.1 × 24.1 cm., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Klee#/media/File:Tale_%C3%A0_la_Hoffmann_MET_DT1768.jpg (last accessed on October 19, 2023).
Fig. 21 RS, The Square, 2021. Acrylic paint, Spray, solid marker on paper, 56 × 75 cm., https://www.flickr.com/photos/ (last accessed on November 29, 2024).
Fig. 22 George Grosz, Selbstporträt (recto); Tragödie (verso), 1917. Pen and India ink on paper, 51.5 × 36.5 cm., Private collection. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_grosz_selbstportrat_tragodie_d6358329123634).jpg (last accessed on August 16, 2024)..
Fig. 23 Dong Yingda, What is dragging me back, 2022. Pencil, 29.7 × 42 cm., https://www.flickr.com/photos/ (last accessed on November 29, 2024).
Fig. 24 Megan Du, Happy pony, 2022. Digital, 20 × 20 cm., https://www.instagram.com/p/CaSv0Wgos8g/?img_index=1(last accessed on October 16, 2023).
Fig. 25 Chen Rong, The Nine Dragons, 1244. Ink and color on Xuan paper, 46.3 × 1496.4 cm., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Dragons_(painting)#/media/File:Chen_Rong_-_Nine_Dragons.jpg (last accessed on October 16, 2023).
Fig. 26 Zhang Shang, Sketch for a panel of Last chance to find Duke, 2019. Ink on paper, 21 × 14.8 cm.，https://www.instagram.com/p/B6lGzwMqb8p/ (last accessed on August 16, 2024).
Fig. 27 James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne at Trafalgar Square, 1876. Oil on canvas, 47.2 × 62.5 cm., Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Whistler_James_Nocturne_Trafalgar_Square_Chelsea_Snow_1876.jpg (last accessed on October 16, 2023).
Fig. 28 Dong Yingda, An afternoon in Moderna, 2018. Pencil on paper, 19.6 × 14.3 cm., https://yingdadong.cargo.site/An-exploration-of-loneliness-2017-2018 (last accessed on June 17, 2022).
Fig. 29 Ni Zan, Bamboo and Elegant stone, 1271-1368. Ink on paper, 96 × 36.5 cm., The Palace Museum, Beijing. https://www.wikiart.org/zh/ni-zan/bamboo-and-elegant-stone (last accessed on October 21, 2023).
Fig. 30 Fu Fang, Silent Moments 5, 2017, Watercolor on paper， 22.86 cm. x 30.48 cm., 2017, https://www.instagram.com/p/BXCktJKAS8q/ (last accessed on August 16, 2024).
Endnotes
[1] Yamauchi, Tokuryû (2020) Logos et lemme – Pensée occidentale, pensée orientale. Translated from the Japanese by Augustin Berque. Paris: CNRS Éditions.
[2] Ibid. p. 442-443.
[3] Ibid. p. 440.
[4] Yamauchi’s point in this debate is to switch the third element of Nāgārjuna’s scheme with the fourth (the third addresses the complementarity of identity and its contradiction, while the fourth negates this complementarity). This interpretation is worth an analysis on its own. See for comparison François Jullien, The Great Image Has No Form, or On The Nonobject through Painting, translated from the French by Jane Marie Todd (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2009), Mathias Obert, Welt als Bild – Die theoretische Grundlegung der chinesischen Berg-Wasser-Malerei zwischen dem 5. und dem 12. Jahrhundert (Freiburg i.B.: Verlag Karl Alber, 2007), and Bernhard Waldenfels, Phenomenology of the Alien – Basic Concepts, translated from the German by Alexander Kozin and Tanja Stähler (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2011).
[5] See for example Fujiko Nakaya’s exhibition Nebel Leben (Mist Life) at Haus der Kunst in Munich, from April, 8 to July, 31, 2022 (https://hausderkunst.de/en/exhibitions/fujiko-nakaya-nebel-leben?locale=en, last accessed on May, 31 2022).
[6] Hemphill, Terry. “Looking Back to Look Forward: Illustration Styles of the Past 30 Years.” Accessed August 22, 2023 (see https://creativecloud.adobe.com/zh-Hans/discover/article/looking-back-to-look-forward-illustration-styles-of-the-past-30-years).
[7] Xiang, Biao, and Wei Shen. “International student migration and social stratification in China.” International Journal of Educational Development 29, no. 5 (2009): 513-522.
[8] The links to all the figures are provided at the end of the article (before endnotes).
[9] Conversation with Li Min, June 2022.
[10] Lee, Heagyeon. “Putting Poetics into Paintings: Album of Sikong Tu’s Modes of Poetry.” issue. Accessed August 22, 2023 (see https://issuu.com/museumofkorea/docs/nmk_v43/s/12345670).
[11] Jullien, François. The Great Image Has No Form, op. cit.
[12] Conversation with Li Min, June 2022.
[13] Conversation with Li Min, June 2022.
[14] Conversation with Li Min, June 2022.