Under the Name of ‘Ink’ and for the Essence of ‘Ink’
----Interpreting Cindy Ng Sio Ieng’s work series
Xiaoxin Chen
‘Ink’ (generally referred to as ink art) conveys the profound and age-old culture of the Chinese people and has become one of the spiritual hometowns shared by them. Therefore, for the enormous population in Chinese, ‘ink’ has acquired tremendous geniality and self-esteemed identity. It is also because of this quality that it is impossible to construct the Chinese contemporary art culture without the participation of ‘ink.’
These claims can be best attested by Cindy Ng Sio Ieng’s work series under the name of ‘ink’ (note that it is only her starting point), such as ink-on-canvas series, ink-on-paper series, ink photographs, ink video series, and live art series. Otherwise, why would she designate her creations ‘ink’?
If we aim to interpret Cindy’s ‘ink’ series in further detail, it is essential to refer to two coordinate axes, i.e. horizontal and vertical.
Let’s begin the scrutiny from the horizontal axis. In Europe and America, it is widely known that Modernism had receded half a century ago and that the main stream art nowadays is Ideal art, i.e., post-modern art, or post-post-modern art. Ideal art has not only changed people’s understanding of ‘art’ but also transformed the relation between art and the audience. In other words, the passive ‘viewing’ process has been transformed into active participation, or even symbiosis and interaction. Art has penetrated into our daily life and has become part of our daily life. Art inheres in life and life in art. It is the desire to realize this ideal that prompts ideal artists to alter (or subvert) the expressive mode of orthodox classical art and even modernism (the so-called ‘frame mode’). For art to establish the relation of co-existence and interaction with the audience, ideal artists avail themselves of every possible medium, such as video and live art.
From this perspective, what Cindy Ng emulates is ideal art. Thus, she is an ideal artist rather than a so-called painter or ink painter. This is where she greatly and evidently diverges from such modern ink artists as Guosong Liu and this is the “asset” with which she can surpass them. Doyen and standard-bearer as Liu is in Taiwan’s modern ink movement, revolutionizing to a greater degree and manipulating the ideal mode of projection, he is still mainly concerned about the painting itself, that is, the so-called creation in the sense of orthodoxy. In other words, the purpose of his ‘cause’ (media and methods) is to realize or achieve his ‘effect’ (paintings and creations). However, nearly half a century after Liu, Cindy directly converts her ‘cause’ (the process of video and live art) into her ‘effect,’ and reveals the entire procedure to her audience so that her audience are captivated in the thorough process of her creation with her. Therefore, in terms of Cindy ’s ‘ink’ video and live art, ‘cause’ is equivalent to ‘effect’ and the complete progression of water and ink and density and lightness (the inherent beauty and artistic conception of ink movement) is the work she intends to capture. In contrast, ‘effect’ cannot be a single or several pure paintings (the works in a canonical sense). Instead, it can only reside in ‘cause,’ in the heart of artists and the audience. When the audience appreciates her video and live art, the ‘effect’ is whatever they see, hear, perceive, and apprehend.
From the standpoint of the horizontal axis, what Cindy pursues under the name of ‘ink’ is in fact the so-called internationalization, or the contemporary essence that has gradually become internationalized. It is obvious that this type of contemporary essence has enormously deviated from the past modern essence. Therefore, in the contemporary society, it is easier for the general public to accept and understand her works and to further integrate them into the contemporary life. Her creations are absorbed and digested as a molecule, but cannot be stored up or hung on the wall as a piece of work in an orthodox sense.
Let’s continue the exploration from the vertical axis. Works under the name of ‘ink’ can easily get bogged down in a trap. That is, they only acquire the title of ‘ink’ without the real marrow of ‘ink’; they obtain Chinese symbols but discard orthodox essence; they are draped with the costumes of internationalization but are stripped of the cultural roots of Chinese garments. Put in another way, they take into consideration only imitation from a horizontal perspective regardless of the vertical associations of their own culture; they only consider renovating artistic mode but ignore the sincerity and profundity that art expresses. This type of work will end up superficial, shallow, and transient and will further lose its way in the trend of internationalization, being reduced to cultural garbage in the periphery in the long run. In the past, such instances are not rare.
Therefore, the name of ‘ink’ demands the simultaneous realization of the essence of ‘ink.’ That is, the name of ‘ink’ is just a starting point. The realization of the essence of ‘ink’ is the ultimate goal and the desired end. What is this ‘essence’? This ‘essence’ signifies the need to establish the upward profound associations. In other words, it is not only necessary to find out the millennium cultural traces of ‘ink’ and to grasp the pith and marrow of the orthodoxy, which can be further assimilated, utilized, and renovated. In a new discourse, it is also vital to transform, enhance, and glorify the cultural traces of ‘ink.’ This is absolutely a difficult task, an undertaking that requires the whole generation or even several generations to accomplish. In this enterprise, every artist should make strenuous efforts and should view it as their own responsibility.
Let’s return and discuss Cindy ’s work series under the name of ‘ink.’ In my opinion, she aims her creations towards the goal of realizing the essence of ‘ink’ in an intelligent, carefree, relaxing, and distinctive way so that her works emit a type of female fragrance. In terms of sensibility, appreciating her works brings me a flow of poetic images, the warmth of observation with meticulous care, an abundance for as small as an entity but as large as the cosmos, inducing in me a complex feeling, both touching and awesome. From the perspective of rationality, Cindy ’s works inherit the orthodox cultural traces from at least three main aspects. The first is the emphasis on import. Chinese paintings have always valued the significance of import. As the poem goes, ‘In the Chinese zither of the Wuwei Taoist priest, emits the age-old infinite music. The notes are like the flowing water on the rock, the infinite flow originates from the deep source. Though the fingers pluck, the sound resides in the import, listen not with the ears but with the heart. Grasping the import and the human body discarded…’ This poem by Xiu Ou-yang can assist us in comprehending Cindy ’s creations. In other words, in expressing creation conceptions, the crucial point of Cindy’s works still lies in ‘obtaining the essence of the import’ (Su Shi). Therefore, ‘Apprehend the import and there won’t be hindrance.’ (ibid.) The second aspect is implicitness. The ultimate realm of implicitness is ‘Without a single word, but grasp the pith and marrow’ (Tu Sikong). I think that in expressing the purport, Cindy ’s works achieve implicitness, where there exists uncertainty and randomness, encouraging us to make diverse interpretations. Every time we appreciate her work, we will be immersed in distinct perceptions. In addition to the rhetoric theory of post-modern art, this characteristic of expression mainly conforms to the beauty of implicitness. The third aspect is yinyang and taichi. According to the ancient Chinese sages, ‘The foundation of the world lies in yin and yang’ (Yi Zhou). That is, ‘Taichi engenders the sky and the land,’ ‘yin and yang combined is Tao.’ ‘Tao engenders one, one engenders two, two engenders three, and three engenders everything,’ (Lao-tzu, Chapter 42) and ‘Contrast is the canon of transformation’ (ibid, Chapter 40). Cindy ’s creation is based on a single word: transformation. Everything, including water, ink, density, and lightness, is changing, developing, and merging to come into existence. The philosophical ideology embedded in the works originates from the ancient Chinese sages.
In inheriting the orthodox cultural traces, it is also necessary to transform, enhance, and glorify the cultural traces of ‘ink.’ Since this has been expounded in the last paragraph, we will not reiterate the ideas here.
‘Incorporating the old into the new, and engendering the new out of the old’ (Zonghuo Ma). The towering tree of ‘ink,’ which has persisted for several millennia, should return to its origin, branch out, and revive in Cindy ’s creations. What great pleasure this brings to us!
May 30, 2007, Caolu Study, Nanjing