The paintings by Gao Xingjian which I just discovered by accident, strike such a chord of deep meaning as far as I am concerned. I am astonished by their fluid, expressive and dreamlike nature---they seem to exist at the edge of reality, touching upon moments of illumination and the innermost depths of the human condition. Gao Xingjiang believed that the our world cannot be explained rationally--he therefore looked within, at the source of the inner light.
I am gratfiied to find that he is the Chinese Nobel Prize winner of Literature in 2000 and has written equally haunting, poetic plays and essays. His works are banned in China since one of his plays is set in the Tianenmen Square.
Xingjian uses Chinese rice paper and ink and brush to paint very pure black and white pictures which straddle abstract and figurative themes. One can see figures which appear as in a mirage, landscapes and a beautiful effulgence of piercing light emerging from deep somnolescence---just as though one were waking from deep slumber. The brush strokes are tender, understated and poetic, yet firm in their conviction. His is a modern mind, but one which captures the universal yearning of man for a state of purity, of being one with a great Truth. Watch this video for more images by him:
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