Shui-mo painting symbolizes the spirit of traditional Chinese art. The Chinese character "mo" means ink and "shui" means water. Taiwanese artist Barney Lin’s representation of the masterpiece Travelers among the Mountains and Streams from the Song Dynasty is a duplication of the painting added with new layers of digital animation giving new meaning to the masterpiece. Castle Beyond a Mountain gives new perspective to traditional Chinese painting awakening the new generation of this new interpretation of traditional culture.
The original artwork by Fan K’uan is used as the base for this digital animation. The light brush strokes carefully capture the scenery of the river and sky with varying tones of ink to illustrate the mountains and rocks, successfully constructing a three dimensional view of the landscape. As one of the most important art works in the history of Chinese art, the original painting has been adopted as an inspiration by many contemporary artists since 1993. After the 20th century, Lin used computer animation to create a narrative to further illustrate the painting. With the research of the historical background of the invention of gunpowder during the Song Dynasty, a dynamic explosion is included. The best blending of traditional techniques and digital animation technology creates this infinite variation for the audience to immerse in this spectacular landscape.
The trend of using technology to recreate Chinese traditional masterpieces reached its peak when the prosperous city life in the Riverside Scene at Ching Ming Festival was digitalized. The animation arouses audience’s interest in both the original work and the history behind it; from it they can feel the influence of technology in the transformation. Similarly, Castle Beyond a Mountain works as an extension of this “Digitmania”; introducing new media works to the public which reflects upon traditional practice in art as well as discover new elements for the contemporary art scene.
The 4-week exhibition ends with the start of our final episode of LAND-TA-MORPHOSIS in early February. The upcoming artwork’s peculiar style and its in-depth investigation on city landscape and appropriation of masterpieces will draw a perfect ending to this trilogy.
Opening Reception: 7.1.2011 7pm
