Painting the Dao

50 group of wooden incense burners which I mounted on xuan paper to allow the addition of inscriptions and seals. I produced a dozen of them, from which he chose one as a reciprocal gift. ak10.98 Alongside their playthings, I also painted the sages, monks and literati who created or patronised them. ak18.1 As I shifted to painting energy, the patterns of nature, the Dao, I start- ed to seek the essence of painting, a process we can see in the context of strange stones. I started by painting mimetic images of stones. ak10.7 Then I painted the idea of stones. ak15.130 Then I painted the surface pattern and energy of stones. ak22.14 Then I followed the essence of what the stone meant as a meditational aid, and the stones began dissolving into their setting as energy, fraying at the edges as the patterns of reality merged with their source. ak23.7 Strange stones, the highest form of sculpture in the hierarchy of Chinese aesthetics, are transformational aids. As I came to understand that, I found myself charting their course on this profound journey – universal energy, expressed with the brush. Understanding that all knowing creativity is aimed at profundity makes it far easier to investigate, perceive and express that idea beyond the art object. A ‘forever painting’ is ‘finished’ when it reaches the point where any further layers might decorate but not improve. As much of the painting paints itself, so it is also involved in declaring, ‘Enough!’ Then the second two ‘perfections’ are added in the form of text and seals. Text conveys meaning through language, whether straightforward or arcane, but calligraphy and vermilion seals also offer a powerful formal dimension to painting, which is why they were combined so long ago in Chinese art. Inscriptions and titles generally suggest themselves as the painting evolves, but the text isn’t composed until the painting is finished. I write on a computer, and refine, though not obsessively; a draft is rarely edited more than once before I pick up a brush, making last changes as I inscribe. Gweilo (‘ghost man’) is a derogatory term for westerners in Hong Kong, which, with the self-deprecatory humour of the British, came to be worn as a badge of honour. I coined the term ‘gweilography’ for my English texts ak18.1 Fleeing from Heaven Ink and watercolour on Arches paper 57 × 76 cm, Hong Kong, 2018 ak10.7 Red Cliff Stone (detail) Ink and watercolour on cotton paper 94.0 × 19.4 cm, Hong Kong, 2010 Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 8 April 2010, lot 1714 ak15.130 The Seven Sages of the Strange Stone Ink on Liu Kuo-sung paper mounted on xuan paper 145 × 257 cm, Sussex, 2015 Yifawn Lee & Nader Rasti Collection, Hong Kong ak10.98 Night and Day, National Pine Incense Burner, No.7 39 × 142 cm, Sussex, 2010