宗炳 “畫山水序” “Theory about Landscape Painting” by Zong Bing | 王冬龄 Wang Dongling
2013
王冬齡 Wang Dongling
小字草書四頁 水墨紙本
Four Pages of Small-character Cursive Script, Ink on Paper
13.5 x 21.5 cm (4) / 5.3 x 8.5 in (4)
$ 11,000
This work is a draft of the video installation work,” Guanshan Gathering” by Wang Donglin and Zheng Shengtian. The content is "The Preface to Painting Landscape " by Zong Bing, a painter and art theorist during the Southern Song Dynasty (375-443). "The Preface to Painting Landscapes" is known as one of the earliest theoretical articles in the history of Chinese art, and the modern art educator Chen Chuanxi describes it as “the earliest theoretical work of Chinese landscape painting in pre-modern time.”
Although the length of the whole essay is just a few hundreds of words, throughout history it has become the theoretical basis followed by many landscape painters for thousands of years, and it is also the spiritual indexes of Chinese literati painting. In pre-modern time, the Chinese calligraphy and Chinese painting were described as “from the same origin.” This calligraphy works by Wang Dongling portrays the spirits of “harmonious association between human and nature,” which is known as the essence of the “Preface of Landscape Painting” and Chinese landscape painting.
In 2014, Zheng Shengtian invited Wang Dongling to write “The Preface of Painting Landscapes” with ink on top of the specially made canvas and videotaped the whole process into a comprehensive video installation. The incompatible while lingering relationship between the ink and canvas, symbolizes the dilemma of dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures. This work is a draft written by Wang Dongling for the installation.
这件作品为王东龄与郑胜天合作的“冠山风”影像装置作品之一的草稿。内容为南朝宋（375-443）年间画家、艺术理论家宗炳的“画山水序”一篇。《画山水序》为在中国艺术史上年代较早的理论性文章，近现代美术教育家、评论家陈传席在其著述中称“画山水序”为中国最早的山水画理论著述。
《画山水序》短短百字，却成为了其后千百年许多艺术家遵照的理论基础，也是是中国文人画的精神索引。书画同源，王东龄书写的“畫山水序”，潇洒的笔画，刻画出这一经典文献中所描绘的中国山水之“畅神”的精神。独特的艺术形式，更是让古老的文献有了全新的生命力。在新的时代，能够有一重全新的诠释。
郑胜天邀请王冬龄在他特别制作的油画布上用水墨书写《画山水序》，并全程录像，制作成综合的影像装置。水墨与油互不相容而又若即若离的关系象征了东西文化之间对话的困境。这件作品是王冬龄为装置作品所写的草稿