A Man’s Reservedness and Softness:

Understanding Yang Ermin’s Color Ink and Wash Painting

　　By Zhai Mo (China Art Research Institute)

　　I noticed Yang Ermin’s painting before I met Yang Ermin in person. Suddenly I was deeply attracted by Yang's works, which are as beautiful and outstanding as mongrels. The works, which reveal the essence of oil painting, watercolor and ink, so elegant and delicate, so pervasive and mellow, must be, I guess, the products of a woman artist of graceful temperament and tender feeling. Even the name of the artist echoed my first impression. However the artist turned out to be handsome gentlemen, whose gentle and easy manner consoled me for my first misinterpretation.

　　Color from oil painting, ink from Ink and Wash Painting and water from watercolor painting meet in Yang Ermin’s works. The combination of the three elements is evidently richer than ink and wash but not so dazzlingly bright as the colors of oil painting and watercolor painting because, with the brightness of the color decreased and the gracefulness of the color greatly increased, ink color dilutes, on the one hand, the stickiness of greasepaint and thickened, on the other hand, the lightness and thinness of watercolor. The new color enjoys the distinguished qualities of both ink and paint. Thus the coagulation and mobility of the combination liquid is easy for the artist to control. In this way the strength of the brushwork and the natural and subtle texture can be observed clearly. It is usually hard for artists to blend ink and color into each other. Many have resulted in a mess when they tried to blend the two. In Yang's painting, however, ink and color blend into each other successfully. The color intermingled with ink becomes transparent, bold, natural and thick. The thickness of oil painting, the texture of ink and the mobility of watercolor join together organically and a new independent product, which is derived from three different forms of painting but different from them each, is thus created. It can be labeled as Yang Ermin’s unique style of painting.

　　It is difficult for Yang Ermin to deal with the relation between each two different systems of Chinese, Japanese and Western art (when he tried to combine the essence of the three).Western painting focuses on engineering texture and Chinese painting focuses on ideas while Japanese painting focuses on workmanship. It is really hard to combine the three highly harmonically because they usually contradict each other. Aristotle wrote on the gate of Athens Art Institute that he who knows nothing about geometry is not allowed to come in. DaVinci also said that what he pursued in art is mathematical sequence in his painting. Therefore Western painting became a system of science and realism since it experienced objective imitation and mathematical design. Chinese artists such as Gu Kaizhi, Zong Bing and Su Shi, who paid a lot of attention to ideas conveyed in their painting, belong to the system of freehand brushwork characterized by vivid expression of bold outline. Since Ukiyoe, Japanese artists such as Higayama Kaii.Takayama Tatsuo, Kayama Youzou, Hirayama Ikuo and Sugiyama Yasushi, who showed their exquisite workmanship with materials of decorative colors on the walls and screens, combined the mathematical sequence in Western painting with the plane image in Chinese painting. It seems that Western painting focuses on stereoscopic effect, Chinese painting focuses on plane effect and Japanese painting focuses on architectural effect. However Yang Ermin’s painting differs from all of the three systems mentioned above. He tried hard to avoid the over-doing in Japanese painting and combined the mathematical geometry in Western painting with the freehand brushwork in Chinese painting. He strengthened the image of Chinese painting by means of Western plastic arts and softened the strong color of Western painting by means of Chinese ink. Thus a new style of painting, which is based on dark brown and dark blue with slight dimness, came into being.

　　Yang Ermin's painting is fully consistent with his self-restraint, his graceful temperament, his tranquil state of mind and his tender feeling. His unconventional state of mind brings him into a highly lofty realm of life and art. Lu Xun, a famous literary master in modern Chinese literature, remarked that ruthlessness doesn't necessarily make a true hero. It is very hard for a male artist to enjoy such an elegant state of mind, particularly in a competitive modern society, when people are all busy making money and seeking fame. There are more superficial works than works of true art nowadays. In this situation, Yang Ermin's works become strikingly precious, for they purify human souls and make people tranquil.

　　(Written in Winter, 1998)

作者：翟墨