“Abstract paintings” can be traced back to the beginning of human civilization. In terms of cultural anthropology,it is an outcome of the wisdom and culture of early human beings. The “abstraction of the painting”, however,occurred as late as in the last century. People may be surprised at the difference between the two and the wideness ofthe gap. That just proves how hard it is for human spiritual civilization to develop.
　　For today’s western culture, the classical painting since the Renaissance is but the glory of the past. What reallymakes western people proud is the modern art, because in the entire 20th century, the western modern culture hasbeen the center of the stage of human culture. As an American greatly influenced by the European culture, Greenburgonce said, “the emergence of modernism may be the strangest historical event. The western civilization is not thefirst to turn back and question the basis that it roots in, but it goes the furthest.” Today, either from the practicalhistorical process or from the theoretical critique and reflection, the word “abstract” undoubtedly has become akeyword of western modern art. Maybe that’s why the Americans beat the drum for their contributions to the westernculture. Anyway, they had pushed western abstract art to a new stage, that is, “abstract expressionism”.
　　If we follow this logic and take the perspective of cultural evolution, abstract art will be the patent of the west, andis going further and further away from the east. It is this way of logical thinking that traps many Chinese artistsand theorists, and eventually makes them admirers and imitators of western art, and lose their cultural identity andindependence.
　　What is not known to them is that though the occurrence of modern western art has many historical reasons,especially the influence of social changes, from a cultural view, the west undoubtedly has learned a lot from theeast, and we can even say that the abstract form is one important aspect of what they have learned. At the end ofthe 19th century, when western art was shrouded by the “doomsday” mood, especially in the “ art nouveau”, theyintroduced Japan and Chinese decorative paintings on a large scale, and tried to build a mysterious atmosphereof the doomsday. It was just at that time that western paintings started to give up the doctrine of deep perspectiveand tended towards the creation of visual flatness and then found a way of modern art which developed fromsimplification to geometrical forms and then to abstract. At the beginning of the 20th century, Bauhaus as the cradleof modern western design, not only contributed to design but also considerably promoted the western modern art.In this academy of modern design, Oriental Philosophy is a core course. Among the outstanding artists from Bauhaus,
　　Today, according to the well-known knowledge of artistic history, people habitually take Kandinsky as therepresentative of western modern art, and neglect his Russian cultural identity. If we take into consideration Russianconstructivism and its suprematism together, we may find that the role that Russian culture played in the 20thcentury western modern art is extraordinary. In this regard, Russian culture naturally played a critical role betweenthe oriental and western culture. In a certain period of time, our art was excessively influenced by political ideology.Under the influence of cold-war thoughts, People tended to divide the artistic world simply into two opposingcamps: realism and modernism. After reform and opening-up, the ideological shadow disappeared from the worldof art, but the division of the oriental and the western culture was unconsciously established. People almost forgotthe Russian culture which once had exerted great influence on Chinese modern culture. As to modern artists asKandinsky, Malevich, and Tatlin, Chinese people just listed them as exceptions. Indeed, it is difficult for us to rejectsuch approaches to narration in the modern Chinese cultural contexts which are comprehensively shaped by thewestern modern theory.
　　After the cold war, Huntington put forward his Cultural Conflict theory from the point of view of internationalstrategy. Though it still reflects the undisguised American hegemonism, his method of cultural comparison cangive us some inspiration. In the domain of world culture, Russian culture is not only a type but also has its specialgeographical nature. After Byzantium, Russia relied on Orthodox theology to form its own culture in the 19thcentury, which matured in the 20th century, then started to confront western Catholicism and Protestantism. Fromthe thoughts of the most important Russian thinker, Berdjaew, we can feel clearly his critic standpoint towardsChristianity in the history, and his desire to create a new religion. Ultimately, his thoughts and spirits resembleoriental philosophy, especially close to Chinese culture. He said, “the new religious consciousness desiresintegration, overcoming of dualism, the highest fulfillment, and it should contain something that the Christianconsciousness doesn’t have to combine the two poles, the two opposite abysses.” He also said, “The secret of Godis the same as that of human beings. The secret of human being is in the hand of God, and the secret of God isin the hand of human being. Human being is created by God, and God is created by human being. The thoroughdisclosure of human being is the disclosure of God, and vice versa.” At this point, don’t you feel it is so similar withthe Chinese thought of “Oneness between the heaven and the human”. Actually, it is Leibniz, the German, who hadmost deeply realized the geographical nature of Russian culture. In all his life, he had been expecting to build an“intellect contact” between China and Europe through Russia – the middle land. When he saw that Peter I the Greathad civilized Siberia and permitted people to enter China through this place, he thought “Russia connected Chinait,s difficult to imagine that artists like Kandinsky have not been influenced by the oriental culture in their artisticcreation and thoughts.and Europe in culture”.
　　Strictly speaking, in the world history of cultural development, Russia is just a derivative nation, and its culture cannot be counted as original. Because of this, Russia absorbed the civilization of both the west and the east by takingits geographical advantage. It assimilated and recreated the cultures by absorbing from both the west and the east,and developed towards maturity in the 19th century. At the same time it played a more and more important role inthe world culture, and led the western culture towards the orient and the modern both in mentality and in the spiritualrealm. When we gain such a perspective of cultural comparison, we find that Russian culture is never simple butthought-provoking.
　　Yang Zhijian is such a Chinese modern artist who stood on the land of Russia and profoundly felt the differencebetween Chinese culture and western culture. At the same time he deeply realized the cultural geographicalconnection.
　　In 2002, Yang Zhijian was sent by the National Education Community to study in Russia. During the nearly 2years’ time, he shuttled between Lebin Academy of Fine Arts and Moscow National Normal University. Besidesfinishing the necessary studies, he spent more time in visiting various museums and art galleries, and enjoyednumerous masterpieces collected by Russia from the classical to the modern. At the same time, he had an overallreview and profound understanding of the developing process of Russian art. To study in Russia is a good chancethe same time,with great interest evinced in the creating of art,he wrote another essay,The Basic Features of theArtist’s Imaginal Thinking,which was also published in a Russian Journal,Humanistic Issues Studies.From thenon, Yang Zhijian’s artistic conception became clearer and clearer, and was endowed with more and more culturalsignificance. He was ready to restart his artistic journey.
　　Not long after returning from Russia, Yang Zhijian started to draw up a new program of devoting himself heartand soul to his artistic creation. In the following years, he created many new paintings. In the earliest works, hecontinued to choose the theme of ecological nature and human survival. On the one hand, he chose water lily whichcarries oriental cultural connotations, and penguin of the North Pole which carries life-caring significance as themain subjects of his paintings. On the other hand, he used Vrubel-like structuralist language to move away fromhis former painting conception and the realistic skills which he used so smoothly and habitually, and then started todevelop his artistic language and the profundity of his works. He was getting closer and closer to oriental abstractionand nihility. It was through these experiments that Yang Zhijian penetrated the profound mystery of the creation ofimages and significance – a visual method and spiritual experience tending towards Taoism: the immaterial form andthe imageless image.
　　The self-consciousness of his creating method and his deeper understanding of traditional Chinese culture andwisdom make Yang Zhijian very confident. He becomes as free as an unchained wild horse, and his creative passioncannot be restrained now. The past experience becomes the theme of his self-expression. The hanging parlor scroll inthe traditional Chinese painting is transformed into a new form of his oil painting. The canvas becomes a battle field,and he is like an outstanding commandant controlling the subtle situation of the whole battle field with confidence.His free and unrestrained brush is always capturing the changing world and his ability to control the whole pictureis exerted completely. In his paintings, the traditional form is replaced by the modern constructive language, andthe theme is no longer conveyed through images, but through spiritual communication. Whether bold and extendedor restrained and sluggish the lines are; whether calm and illusive or flowery and visionary the colors are; whetherthe strokes are springing and glittering like pearls, or the black and the white, the false and the true, as well as thedifferent spatial levels, are forming and transforming, all the formal elements seem to be in rhythm with the nature,just like a great symphony. His works sometimes are extensive and wild; sometimes are far-reaching and vast;sometimes are changing and illusive or detached and calm; sometimes are magnificent or visionary; sometimes arebold and passionate; sometimes are leisurely and elegant or affectionate and romantic… In all these works, youcan no longer see the stillness and coldness in his former work Frigid Universe, and no longer see the excessivefor Yang Zhijian. With his intuition for art and sensitivity to culture, he felt an urge to relfect on his way of creation.However, for Yang, who is tending towards maturity in art with some achievements in the field of oil painting inChina, it is undoubtedly a challenge. In his eyes, western art, as a self-dependent and great tradition, must have itsreasonable historical and culture significance. While he knows if he still holds a technical attitude to worship andimitate western paintings, he will undoubtedly become a stubborn fool in Chinese art of the 21st century. Thenhe got inspirations from Russian “Touring School” and the later “World of Art”. To Russian modern art, Vrubelis undoubtedly a historical turning point. On one hand, the language of form is extending towards structuralism;on the other hand, the overall control of space and the atmosphere built by the colors conveys an unspeakablemystery and spiritual profoundness. It was in the works of Mikhail Vrubel that Yang Zhijian found the doublecultural significance and seemed to meet an intimate friend in art. So he started his comparison between western andoriental paintings, and began to reflect on tradition and modernity. The essay Out of Imitation,expresses his culturaljudgement of art,which came out with a Russian publication Research on Issues Problems of Modern Science. Atrationalism and coldness of the past, as they have been replaced by the freedom and smoothness of brush in formingand the vivid rhythm combining figures and colors which aesthetically give people passion of life and joy of spiritwith the remote and vast artistic conception. In these works, Yang Zhijian seems to have touched certain secretsof oriental thoughts through modern vision. These visual views seem to be the portraiture of his own spiritualexperience –all is illusive as well as substantial,and all is dead as well as alive. We can see that Yang Zhijian hasgone beyond himself, and through the transcendence he seems to find his real self: in the conflicts of character, senseand passion are harmonized; in the contradiction of artistic languages, the concrete and the abstract are interrelated;in the diversity of cultures, the west and the orient are connected; in the gap between tradition and modernity, lifeand wisdom get united; in the distance between reality and ideal, spirit and heart get integrated. Yang Zhijian oftoday has completely returned to his mother culture—Chinese culture, and found an oriental abstract way for oilpainting, which is also a way of cultural communication and spiritual transcendence.
　　Yang Zhijian’s change in the style of painting is undoubtedly successful. He challenged himself bravely and wisely,and won great success with his artistic intelligence and hard work. His success is basically due to his open mindto culture and his sincere exploring spirit in the world of art. If the horizon of cultural comparison brought himthe possibility of artistic judgments and reflection, then, it is the chance to study in Russia that brought him theinspiration to think about the western culture and oriental culture in a geographical perspective. His diligence inthinking by nature, the accumulation of his long-term creating experience, and his perseverance in pursuing hiscareer, together with the above elements, naturally contribute to the great change in his thoughts.If we regard Yang Zhijian as a valuable case in Chinese modern art, it suggests that the historic opportunity has comefor Chinese culture to be self-conscious and independent again.
　　Notes:
　　Foucault, Habermas, Bourdieu etc.. Radical Spearhead of Aesthetics. The Publication House of Chinese
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　　Zhang Baichun. Contemporary Orthodox Theology. Shanghai Joint Publishing Co..
　　Etiemble. The History of Chinese Culture’s Spreading to Europe(French). The Commercial Press.
　　Zhou Gonghua
　　Aesthetician and Critic