Chen Kun´s Vision

By Thomas Eller, Germany, Curator、Artist

It is a cold early winter day in the North. The sun is shining and I am sitting by a lake enjoying the bright sunshine. It is quiet. There is no wind for the trees, baring their leafless branches, to comb through. No birds that sing and no mosquitoes bothering any warm-blooded animal like myself. I look out at the lake and all I see is light bouncing off of the minuscule ripples on the water surface probably caused only by the thermic dynamics of the sun´s energy still stored in the large body of water since last summer that is now exposed to the onslaught of winter. There is gentleness in the soft glimmer of the sun´s rays bouncing off the cusps of the waves. Very regular patterns, that run across the vast expanse of the lake, repeating over and over again. And I shiver – not from the cold, but the sheer beauty of it. A beauty of utmost purity and without desire. It is an energy that does not come from me. Nothing there that I aspired to, nothing I was chasing all my life, because… because I thought I needed it. Nothing there that makes life such an impossible strife. Instead very simple: I am sitting here, not thinking much and then it arrives. Simple, humble, but very present. I just look out at the lake and feel … connected. The light enters my body through the skin.

I close my eyes.

I breathe the fresh cold air and feel the warmth that the sun creates just in the instant when it touches my skin. I open my coat, just to get more of it. The cold air, it seems, is no match to the power of the sun on my body.

I open my eyes.

At quite a distance I see a boat hardly moving. Sort of strange and nothing much happens there in that indiscernible distance. Probably some fisherman who in their leisure time try to do something relaxing that they can justify as not wasting their time… but who in the city needs to go and harvest their own food anymore?! – But they have my sympathy. They at least are not hustling for more gain.

…

Then this person walks by and before I know it, I turn my head… I get fully immersed in the sight ­– but then: over. Turned the corner, gone.
I breathe – heavily. And then I look at myself and …

… and I close my eyes.

I see an after-image. And I see my own desire, objectified in the view, the vision of this person. …  and I realize. I realize that vision “is” desire and that vision distances me from what I desire. As much as I want, I can´t touch… I can´t smell… I can´t feel …– I CAN´T HAVE IT.

I open my eyes in distress…

Nothing – I see nothing. Nothing there! My eyes flicker, blood pressure up. I inadvertently turn my head in all directions. Nothing!

I close my eyes again.

… after a while – a long while, I calm down and I feel it. I feel the touch. I feel the touch of the sun on my skin – again. A moment of the most beautiful intimacy! A moment of bliss! My skin tingles. I keep my eyes closed. The sun streams in on me and I turn my head up. Up towards the sun. As the cold air flows through my lungs and chills my agitated mind, so it can finally relax – that is when my eyes start to flare up, bright red for the moment. But it is not the sun. I see my own blood shooting through my retina until it becomes almost too intense.

I open my eyes.

The air is cold and my breath fogs over every time I exhale. I look out at the lake again. The fishermen are still doing their thing. The sun is turning very yellow now and the rays loose their intensity. It feels that the world has become much mellower – and I keep looking out at the lake and… my eyes go out of focus…

I see.

I see myself seeing.

It´s a wiggly pattern of Gaussian distribution at first. I see the inside of my eyes moving and I see the sunlight bouncing off of the ripples of the objects inside my eyes shifting at ever so slightly a movement of my eyes. I see – within my own eyes – nothing, but the deeply flawed act of seeing. Nothing but a gray structure of evenly distributed pattern, that seem to move with every minuscule effort of actually seeing. Seeing – what?! – Seeing something.

I close my eyes.

Again I see my eyes do what they are supposed to do – which is seeing. But there is no object of my eyes´ vision. As my eyes are closed, there is nothing but deprivation, which, blurry at first, turns into “vision”. Vision without sight. Very unclear at first, but very energetic, very strong. And this was the moment I could break through and have a vision of what cannot be seen ever, which is the ultimate connectedness. A moment without words and a state beyond bliss.

… and then I open my eyes.

It is getting dark. Time to go.

Thomas Eller, Nov.2018 

CHEN Kun 陈坤

Paradise 天堂, 2013

Colour pencil and oil on canvas 布面彩铅，油彩

148 x 200 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201802, 2018

Oil on canvas 布面油画

200 × 300 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201706, 2017

Oil on canvas 布面油画

110 x 140 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201803, 2018

Oil on canvas 布面油画

200 x 250 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201601, 2016

Oil on canvas 布面油画

115 x 150 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201801, 2018

Oil on canvas 布面油画

200 × 300 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201705, 2017

Oil on canvas 布面油画

120 x 170 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

201804, 2018

Oil on canvas 布面油画

210 x 360 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

The Stone Series No.2 石头系列之二, 2016

Acrylic on paper 纸本丙烯

78 x 108 cm

CHEN Kun 陈坤

The Abstract Series No.3 抽象系列之三, 2018

Acrylic on paper 纸本丙烯

75 x 55 cm

Related link：

展览 Upcoming Exhibition | 陈坤 Chen Kun (2018.11.30-2019.01.06)

开幕 | 陈坤个展于11月30日下午开幕

Preview | CHEN Kun Solo Show presents on 30 November

正在展出 Current Exhibition | 陈坤个展 CHEN Kun (2018.11.30-1.6)

关于画廊   About Gallery

偏锋新艺术空间成立于2006年，是中国专注于抽象艺术研究与发展的主要画廊。坚持对中国当代艺术进程的洞察以及对欧洲战后艺术大师的探索，并在两者的对话与碰撞中寻找各种可能的艺术力量。偏锋深信艺术的体验产生于一个又一个的变革中创造的新世界。艺术家的作品，正是探索世界的第三只眼睛。对于收藏家，我们为其提供专业知识，鼓励他们发掘个人独特的视角，只因两者的充分结合，才能构建卓越的收藏。我们希望更多的藏家可以秉持鉴赏家的心态，更深入的理解亚洲与西方的抽象艺术，以及欣赏画廊发掘、重塑并坚信的艺术家。

PIFO Gallery was founded in 2006. Which is China's premier gallery to present abstract art. PIFO brings together the works of contemporary Chinese artists with European post-war masters. At PIFO we believe that the experience of art is profoundly transformative. Seeing the world differently through the works of artists is an inspiration. We encourage our collectors to develop their individual vision and share our expertise in art to help them build excellent collections. The goal is to spread connoisseurship for Asian and Western abstraction in art and deepen the understanding and appreciation for the artists that we (re-)discovered and believe in. 

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作者：偏锋新艺术空间