Authentic Landscape

　　Recent Oil Paintings by Mao Yi Gang　　Reality is not separable from material development and improvement. For the sake of economic improvements, natural environments are sacrificed. The city no longer Offers a home for our spirit. Only in nature can we escape from the daily hustle and bustle. 　　Mao Yi Gang's oil paintings are full of green mountains, clear rivers, cattle returning home in the sunse tall are so refreshing with these images in front of us, our urge to reunite with nature and return to an ancient homeland emerges again. Escapism nurtures these works. This spirit is the same as "living in seclusion" and "escape" which prevailed in the Sung and Yuan Dynasties. Sung experienced great development in politics, economics and urban construction, bringing in city life that jeopardized the serenity of nature and challenged the ideal union of nature and man. For this reason, the natural landscape became the highest spiritual pursuit, which had a direct impact on the birth of Landscape paintings in Northern Sung. Today, this impact is still significant to the development in Chinese art.　　As a contemporary artist in the midst of social upheavals, Mao Yi Gang does not choose to participate like other artists do. He escapes. In his works we can thoroughly experience such unearthly escapism and indulgence in landscape. One needs calmness and long hours in order to appreciate his works. Those who are devoted to radicalism and joyous allegro rhythms may not be able to do so. Probably due to their flippancy, they undermine the spirit of nature and the modesty of man's soul.Based on this quality in human nature Mao Yi Gang creates his art, where there is no place for concept and logic, only rich graphics that offer visual satisfaction-graphics that especially suit the traditional taste for aesthetics.　　Mao's paintings can be viewed like scrolls in the hands of the ancient people-they can be viewed as a whole or part-by-part. Take Stone Bridge after Shower as an example. Our eyes are led from the farmland besides the river bank along a path stretching across a piece of grassland to a bridge, and from beneath the bridge to another piece of farmland on the other side of the river. Such design can only be conceived by someone who has a strong sense of nature. It is like traditional landscape paintings in which similar designs appear everywhere: a path twists around a forest, crosses a river via a bridge and ends at a cliff where an ancient human character admires the scenery besides a fence.　　Cottages are accompanied by old trees, ancient temples by clouds. A mood of tranquility and remoteness prevails. Similarly in Ferry, the whole painting is arranged so that viewers will first take a close look at the river bank in proximity and gradually look farther away to rice fields under the beautiful mountains, where the river runs into eternity.　　In this landscape series Mao Yi Gang continues his realistic style, adding more direct visual elements and simpler brush strokes to depict pure reality. The larger depiction of the sky, border curves, the　cropping and the composition make the paintings look more modern. Under his brushes, the mountain in the thin sun-lit air, and the rustling branches in the shading light are demanding our attention. To paint like this not only requires well-developed skills but also one's love for nature. The former is enough for a natural depiction of the landscape. However, a heart-felt understanding is required in order to give character and soul to the landscape. The great Sung painter Guo Xi mentions in his renowned art critique article Linquan Gaozhi "the concept of authentic landscape which demands the unity of natural landscape and the emotions of the artist, so as to derive a landscape that is more spiritual and poetic than the real one". He thinks artists should be able to experience the different emotions in human relationships in the nearness and remoteness of the landscape and everlasting changes in the mountains with the rising and the setting of the sun. In the series of Guilin landscape by Mao Yi Gang, a sense of calmness and serenity prevails. It does not matter whether they are mountain reflections on calm water, or landscape in the morning and evening mist. Through Mao's brilliant interpretation, the Guilin landscape has become the artist's spiritual shelter for eternal serenity and a place for escape.