Contemporary Artist(Muran gong)Historical Penetrability (Part I): From Perplexity to Penetration——The Contemporary Question of Chinese Painting

Abstract

A pervasive anxiety permeates contemporary Chinese painting circles: has this millennium-old cultural lineage reached its terminus? This paper introduces the core concept of "Historical Penetrability" in response to this fundamental question. By tracing the evolution of Chinese characters from oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions to great seal script, it reveals the capacity for abstract thinking etched into the Chinese people's very bones—this is our inexhaustible source of cultural confidence. "Historical Penetrability" is not stylistic eclecticism, but the ability that enables artistic genes from different eras to coexist, dialogue, and symbiosis within the same pictorial surface. Proceeding from calligraphic origins toward contemporary transformation, it constitutes the core code for an ancient civilization to achieve "internal contemporary transformation."

I. Framing the Question: Can Chinese Painting Move Forward?

A pervasive anxiety permeates contemporary Chinese painting circles: under the dual impact of globalization and new technological waves, has this millennium-old cultural lineage reached its terminus? Some assert that the language of Chinese painting has reached such a high degree of maturity that no further breakthrough is possible. Others turn to ready-made Western styles, substituting "fusion" for substance while claiming to innovate. Still more wander between tradition and innovation, trapped in the dilemma of "advancing with忧虑, retreating with忧虑."

The root of this confusion lies in the suspension of a fundamental question: Can an ancient civilization achieve "internal" contemporary transformation? By "internal," I mean that the impetus and resources for transformation derive first from the civilization's own foundations, rather than from simple appropriation of external styles. By "contemporary transformation," I mean that this transformation must be thorough and structural, not merely patching up tradition.

During a recent reading, I encountered a scholar's discourse that unexpectedly aligned with my thirty years of exploration. He spoke of the distinction between "continuity" and "rupture" in civilizational development: Western civilization experienced a fundamental rupture with the Middle Ages in modern times, while the evolution of Chinese civilization has always maintained connection with its origins. This "continuity" is not stagnation—it is precisely the manifestation of civilizational resilience. It means that every innovation must necessarily be an "internal contemporary transformation," a dialectical movement of rupturing within continuity, and continuing within rupture.

This illuminated my path: all my explorations have been an individual practice of precisely this "internal contemporary transformation." Its result, I call "Historical Penetrability."

II. The Foundation of Characters: Abstract Thinking Etched into the Chinese Bones

Before展开 the discourse on "Historical Penetrability," we must first trace a more fundamental question: How did the Chinese people come to possess this capacity for "penetration"?

The answer lies deep within our writing system.

Tracing the evolutionary path of Chinese characters is tracing the developmental history of abstract thinking. From oracle bone inscriptions to bronze inscriptions to great seal script—this is a清晰 path of cultural evolution. When the Shang people carved the first sacrificial records on tortoise shells and animal bones, they had already completed the transformation from "depicting objects" to "recording meanings." When bronze inscriptions gradually evolved from pictographs to structured linear forms, they were refining images into symbols. By the time great seal script matured, the Chinese people had already accomplished the most magnificent leap in human civilization—the complete transformation from concrete thinking to abstract thinking.

This capacity is etched into the Chinese people's bones.

The oracle bone character for "sun" was a circle ○, but soon it was no longer a drawing of the sun, but a symbol representing "sun." The bronze inscription for "mountain" was ⛰️, but it had already transcended any specific mountain, becoming the universal concept of all mountains. The great seal script for "water" was 〰️, but it captured not the form of water, but the essence of its "force" and "flow."

This is the cultural基因 in which Chinese people lead the world: the instinct to transform concrete objects into abstract expressions.

Looking across the world, no other writing system has achieved such thorough abstraction over three thousand years ago while maintaining its血脉 connection to physical forms. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs died; cuneiform died; only Chinese characters live—not only do they live, but they remain the basic tool of our daily thinking. This means that every user of Chinese characters unconsciously inherits this capacity for abstract thinking.

This is the true source of our cultural confidence.

Western painting experienced a轰轰烈烈的 abstract revolution in the 20th century—from Cézanne to Picasso to Pollock, they took half a century to完成 the difficult跨越 from concrete to abstract. For Chinese painters, however, abstract thinking has never been something requiring a "revolution" to obtain—it resides in the characters we write daily, flowing within our brush and ink.

Chinese characters are the symbolic system closest to the language of painting. The character "horse" (马) can both evoke our imagination of a steed and itself be a linear structure full of power and beauty; the character "wind" (风) both represents a natural phenomenon and its lines themselves seem to carry the flow and grace of wind. This dual nature of being both symbol and picture, both abstract and concrete, is unparalleled by any alphabetic writing system in the world.

Therefore, when I contemplate the contemporary transformation of Chinese painting, I never feel a scarcity of resources. On the contrary, I feel an inexhaustible wellspring of nourishment flowing continuously from the three-thousand-year river of characters. Our task is not to seek new forms externally, but to activate this innate heritage internally.

III. What is "Historical Penetrability"?

Only based on this foundation of characters can we understand the true connotation of "Historical Penetrability."

"Historical Penetrability" is neither stylistic eclecticism nor formal collage. It points to a deeper visual logic: the picture becomes a crystal of time, each facet simultaneously refracting light from different epochs.

In works possessing "Historical Penetrability," the viewer can, in a single glance, simultaneously experience:

The serene majesty of Song landscapes—that awe before cosmic order, the persistent pursuit of "distance" and "depth";
The sharp aloofness of Ming literati—the awakening of literati consciousness, the ultimate expression of brushwork evolving from "depicting objects" to "writing the heart";
The radiant energy of contemporary color fields—the experience of light and color within a global视野, the contemporary encounter with Eastern philosophy of "Qi Yun" (spirit resonance).

All layers are not simply superimposed, but intertwined and co-generated. They resemble sedimentation, compression, and uplift in geological movements, giving birth to entirely new visual life through collision and渗透.

The crucial point here is: this penetration proceeds from calligraphic origins.

The lifeblood of Chinese painting lies in its "writing nature" (书写性). The起承转合 of brushwork must, like calligraphy, "reveal the brush and reveal the nature" (见笔见性). It is precisely this line, rooted in calligraphy, with its inherent temporality and corporeality, that becomes the optimal vehicle for penetrating history. When this line carries millennia of brush intent yet depicts scenes unseen by the ancients—when it outlines the fluorescence of the deep sea while still retaining the texture of "leaky marks" (屋漏痕) and the power of "锥画沙"—true "Historical Penetrability" is born.

The reason this line can achieve this is precisely because it inherits all the genes of Chinese characters: it is both abstract and concrete, both carrying meaning and transcending meaning, both belonging to this era and connecting to oracle bone inscriptions from three thousand years ago. Every brushstroke is a dialogue with ancestors; every line is a穿越 from antiquity to the present.

IV. Conclusion: Penetration Has Only Just Begun

"Historical Penetrability" is not my invention, but the inherent potential of Chinese art. It lies buried within our characters, sleeps beneath our brush and ink, awaiting awakening.

What I have done is merely thirty years of waking work. Using this brush laden with ink and color to knock on that door leading to the depths of history. What lies behind that door? There is the vastness of Song mountains, the aloofness of Ming literati, a thousand years of cultural lineage, and infinite possibilities通向 the future.

In the next installment, I will use three decades of exploration within the "Fantasy-Color Freehand" system as an example to concretely present how this "penetration" occurs—an "archaeology of time," a long journey proceeding from calligraphy toward contemporary transformation.

(To be continued)

murangong.art

搜索此博客

Colors of the Inner Eye