The Spirit of the East and the Image Expressionism Painting - by Peng Feng.

In contemporary aesthetics and art criticism, the East is a desirable concept full of traps. In Edward W. Said’s opinion, the East is a post-colonial concept that was conceived as a dissident by the Western-centrism. A series of characteristics of the East, given with reference to the West, cannot show the real face of the East. However, this does not mean that the characteristics of the East given by the Western-centrism are bad themselves. On the contrary, they may be all excellent and full of romantic fantasy. It's like a landscape available to a foreign tourist, in whose eyes the landscape is only a novelty of illusion constructed by him, and much different from that in the eyes of local residents. With the phenomenological terms, foreign tourists are external, while the local residents are internal. Though the romantic fantasy in the eyes of those external may be more attractive than the natural qualities of those internal, we get ourselves into the jam if we take it seriously because that the Orientalism, as the contrast and supplement to the West-centrism, only make the West-centrism to become more stubborn. 
 
Edward. W. Said's analysis on Orientalism is sobering. However, from another prospective, E. W. Said might be one-sided because he was so fettered by his own theoretical framework that he was unable to extricate himself. In fact, the Orientalism can be shown only in the eyes of the West, which is the same as that the West is clear only in the eyes of the East. The East and the West interact and affect each other. Therefore, if we want to explore the truth, only when we blend the best of the West and the East and discard the unilateralism of both external and internal can we access to the truth. On the one hand, the internal have their own limitations, as Su Dongpo’s poem says, “I can't tell the true shape of Lu Shan because I myself am on the mountain.”. On the other hand, the internal have their own advantages, as Tao Yuanming’s poem says, “a truth in this reflection lies concealed, but I forget how it may be revealed”. The key question does not lie in the contemplation and views of the external, but lies in whether we loss ourselves after being shaped by the contemplation and views of the external, and lies in whether we have the self-confidence and pride of our culture. Fear of the eyes of others is the expression of weakness in the heart. Therefore, the East can be divided into two different kinds: one is the Orientalism in the sense of Edward. W. Said, the other is the new spirit of the East we are advocating now. The key of the difference between the two East is not in the content, but in attitude and stance. Edward. W. Said's Orientalism is a kind of passive catering to the Western-centrism, while the new spirit of the East we are advocating is an active recognition to the cultural identity. The former leads to the consolidation of the Western centrism, while the latter leads to the collapse of the Western-centrism.
 
Chinese contemporary art has changed dramatically over the past 30 years, ranged from the initial total Westernization to the Orientalism in the sense of Edward. W. Said, and to today's new spirit of the East. Such dramatic changes force us to constantly adjust the connotation of Chinese contemporary art. From a larger perspective, we can say that such a drastic change in Chinese contemporary art is a miniature of dramatic changes in Chinese society. To make a comparison, this change in Chinese contemporary art is roughly equivalent to that occurred in China's economy during the last 30 years from attracting foreign investments to encouraging exports, and to expanding domestic demand. The difference between the Orientalism in the sense of Edward W. Said and the new spirit of the East we are advocating is equivalent to that between exports and domestic demand in a sense. Only when the East becomes a conscious spirit demand, can it get rid of the subordinate status of the West.
 
Throughout the world, the oriental spirit in art embodies the pursuit of image. To make a simple comparison, we can say that the Western art based on the ancient Greek tradition takes the reproduction as the core, while the Eastern art based on the Chinese tradition takes image as  its core. The difference between image and reproduction is the important topic discussed in current international aesthetics circle. Of course, this does not mean that the image is incompatible with reproduction. In fact, from the 19th century, Western artists began to draw on a large number of image elements in oriental painting, and transformed their reproduction paintings into expressionism. Therefore, from the painting's style and temperament, the Western Expressionism is much closest to the Chinese Imagism. However, despite the Western Expressionism and the Chinese Imagism have countless ties; in today's art history narrative mode, the expressionistic painting determines its position still in the comparison to the reproduction painting, instead of the image painting. Associating with the image painting and thus forming a new narrative mode of art history need Chinese artists and theorists to take a creative change to transfer the traditional Chinese imagism into image expressionism by means of taking elements in the Western reproduction painting for reference. In fact, when the Chinese image painting began to encounter the Western reproduction painting, there were Chinese artists began to do exploration of image expressionism. It was not until the 21st Century, along with the rise of China and the coming of new Oriental Era, that this exploration became a conscious act and entered the center from the edge. 
 
The Asia Arts Center, an art organization with cultural aspiration, realized the trend transfer of contemporary art in earlier times. Following the success of the exhibition entitled “The Spirit of the East I –Accumulations” in 2008, the Asia Art Center introduces “The Spirit of the East II-Bridging” this year and becomes an important leader in the new spirit of the East. Artists involved in this year’s exhibition include such 13 artists as Chuang Che, Lee Shichi, Shang Yang, Wang Huaiqing, Chihung Yang, Su Xiaobai, Mao Lizi, Ye Yongqing, Xia Xiaowan, Tan Ping, Li Chen, Zhang Fangbai, and Li Lei. These artists are of different styles, but the similarities with them are very obvious: they have experiences of life and cultural exchange in the Western countries; they have the insight blending the best of the West and the East; their art roads start from the East and later return to the East via the West. From the prospective of Hegel's dialectics, we can say that the acquisition of the new oriental spirit is a higher realm reached after discarding the shortcomings of both the Eastern art and the Western art. Without the West as an opposite, and without overcoming and accepting the West successfully, the new oriental spirit can’t emerge. 
 
90 years ago, Zong Baihua (1897~1986) sighed, “I don’t think that it is a success for the future Chinese culture only by means of copying the culture of Europe and the United States. The ancient Chinese culture is of great mightiness and elegance and must not be destroyed. For example, Chinese painting is inventive throughout the world, not easy to define its price compared to the Western painting, and realized after coming to the Europe. Therefore, many Chinese become “stubborn” on the contrary after they come to Europe and the United States. I might be affected by the impact of this trend since I am involved. I still really respect the Western art, but dare not to defy the Chinese culture any more”. The confusion in a dilemma to discard the Eastern art or the Western art shown in Zong Baihua’s expression has been solved along with the maturity of image expressionism. Usually, the progress of culture and art is formed by integrating advantages of different cultures and arts. The globalization era makes artists have the conditions to use various culture resources. How to keep their own positions in the art integration is an important issue faced by contemporary Chinese artists.