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Peng Si: Narcissus of Mandelbrot
Bao Dong
In recent years, Peng Si’s paintings have gradually changed; he used to paint under classical themes that focus on images, but now he is taking the classical method of exploring ‘the nature of things’ to make paintings. Before this, he seemed more cling to the past than most artists of his generation, as he used to paint landscapes in traditional Chinese way and make portraits in classic Western styles, and he was satisfied with the ‘classical sense’ from collective memory or cultural imagination.
However, it seems that true classicism of this era can only be found inward; after a halting period filled with confusions and sudden inspirations, Peng Si turned his dedication on visual presentation and the significance of images into the diligent use of each brushstroke. Starting from ‘a stroke’, the smallest unit that constitutes the act of painting, he found the theoretical foundation for his admiration towards the classic from both inside and outside. Gradually, he began to paint in a way like practicing Zen, trying to pay attention to each movement, each breath, and more importantly, to each wave of thought in the heart’s flow.
From there, he cares about each stroke in the painting process, the experience of constant adjustment and correction during painting, and finds the constituted final image not that important. This is the internal reason and turning point for Peng Si to shift from the so-called concrete to the so-called abstract. Under this change, the act of painting is also broken down into infinite divisible details, which is exactly the worldview behind what we describe as classic: the world is composed of basic units (elements or atoms, etc.); to explore the essence of matters, the world must be restored to these basic units. This is ontology at its simplest.
This is also psychology at its simplest: human unconsciousness contains infinite details, but we are consciously and rationally putting these details in order and having them become part of the whole system of symbols. The moment when unconsciousness temporarily breaks away from the control of the order is often called a trance. In fact, viewers can constantly sense this kind of trance by looking at Peng Si’s ‘abstract’ works.
Peng Si vividly described his fascination towards brushstrokes with a metaphor: there is a Narcissus inhabited in each stroke. Nonetheless, I think this is not a kind of artist’s narcissism, but rather an artist’s confirmation of his nature through each brushstroke; each stroke is like a mirror that lets him see himself clearly in the painting process.
Peng Si’s attention towards such infinitely divisible details always reminds me of the infinite recursion of fractal geometry, where the fragment is the recurrence of the whole, and the whole can be seen from its fragment. In this sense, Peng Si’s portraits can be regarded as traditional Chinese landscape paintings, where the ups and downs on the faces of the figures are like piles of rocks with changes; meanwhile, places for brushworks and ink to develop textures are also provided. Perhaps in a sense, Peng Si has found his own way of ‘making a single brushstroke the root of his painting’.
Written by Bao Dong in Beijing on 20 May 2023
彭斯: 曼德尔布罗的纳⻄西瑟斯
文/鲍栋
Bao Dong
In recent years, Peng Si’s paintings have gradually changed; he used to paint under classical themes that focus on images, but now he is taking the classical method of exploring ‘the nature of things’ to make paintings. Before this, he seemed more cling to the past than most artists of his generation, as he used to paint landscapes in traditional Chinese way and make portraits in classic Western styles, and he was satisfied with the ‘classical sense’ from collective memory or cultural imagination.
However, it seems that true classicism of this era can only be found inward; after a halting period filled with confusions and sudden inspirations, Peng Si turned his dedication on visual presentation and the significance of images into the diligent use of each brushstroke. Starting from ‘a stroke’, the smallest unit that constitutes the act of painting, he found the theoretical foundation for his admiration towards the classic from both inside and outside. Gradually, he began to paint in a way like practicing Zen, trying to pay attention to each movement, each breath, and more importantly, to each wave of thought in the heart’s flow.
From there, he cares about each stroke in the painting process, the experience of constant adjustment and correction during painting, and finds the constituted final image not that important. This is the internal reason and turning point for Peng Si to shift from the so-called concrete to the so-called abstract. Under this change, the act of painting is also broken down into infinite divisible details, which is exactly the worldview behind what we describe as classic: the world is composed of basic units (elements or atoms, etc.); to explore the essence of matters, the world must be restored to these basic units. This is ontology at its simplest.
This is also psychology at its simplest: human unconsciousness contains infinite details, but we are consciously and rationally putting these details in order and having them become part of the whole system of symbols. The moment when unconsciousness temporarily breaks away from the control of the order is often called a trance. In fact, viewers can constantly sense this kind of trance by looking at Peng Si’s ‘abstract’ works.
Peng Si vividly described his fascination towards brushstrokes with a metaphor: there is a Narcissus inhabited in each stroke. Nonetheless, I think this is not a kind of artist’s narcissism, but rather an artist’s confirmation of his nature through each brushstroke; each stroke is like a mirror that lets him see himself clearly in the painting process.
Peng Si’s attention towards such infinitely divisible details always reminds me of the infinite recursion of fractal geometry, where the fragment is the recurrence of the whole, and the whole can be seen from its fragment. In this sense, Peng Si’s portraits can be regarded as traditional Chinese landscape paintings, where the ups and downs on the faces of the figures are like piles of rocks with changes; meanwhile, places for brushworks and ink to develop textures are also provided. Perhaps in a sense, Peng Si has found his own way of ‘making a single brushstroke the root of his painting’.
Written by Bao Dong in Beijing on 20 May 2023
彭斯: 曼德尔布罗的纳⻄西瑟斯
文/鲍栋
近几年来，彭斯的绘画从一种图像的古典主题，逐渐转向了那种穷究“物理”的古典性。之前，他描绘传统的山水图像或者西方古典的人物肖像，显得比同代大部分艺术家都要复古，他当时也很满足于这种集体记忆或者说文化想象中的“古典情怀”。
但这个时代真正的古典似乎只能是向内求索，在一段茫然停滞但又灵光乍现的阶段后，彭斯把在视觉效果与图像意义上的用心，转向了对每一笔的在意。从构成绘画行为的最小单元“一笔”出发，彭斯给自己的古典情怀找到了内心与外应的立论基础，他逐渐开启了一种禅宗功课式的绘画，尽量的把注意力落到每一个动作、每一次呼吸，更重要的是心流中每一波念头上。
从这个观念出发，他所在意的便是绘画过程中的每一笔，以及整个过程中不断调整与校正的体验，而绘画最后形成的那个图像已不太重要，这正是彭斯从所谓具象转向所谓抽象的内在理据与契机。在此观念的转变下，绘画亦被拆解成了无限可分的细节，这正是我们所说的古典性背后的世界观：世界由那些基本的单元（元素或原子等）所组成，要探寻事物的本质，必须把世界还原到这些基本单元上去。这是最最质朴的本体论。
这也是最朴素的心理学，人的无意识包含着无限的细节，但我们的意识和理性却要把这些细节整合成为秩序，变成整个符号体系中的一部分。当无意识暂时挣脱这种秩序控制的片刻，我们通常称之为出神，实际上，在彭斯的“抽象”作品中，观众时常能体会到这种出神之感。
彭斯用一个很形象的比喻来描述他对每一笔的在意与迷恋：每一笔都住着一个纳西索斯。但我到觉得与其说这是一种艺术家的自恋，还不如说这是艺术家通过每一笔对自己心性的确认，每一笔都是一面镜子，让他看清楚自己在这个过程中到底是什么样子。
彭斯把注意力投入到这种无限可分的细节中，总让我想起分形几何的无限次递归特征，局部乃是整体的再次复现，从局部出发，最终能把握整体。在这个意义上，彭斯的肖像作品可以被视为山水画，人物面孔上的起伏就像是山石堆垒及气势转换，其意义亦于给皴法笔墨提供施展之地，或许在某种意义上，彭斯发展出了自己的“一画论”。
2023年5月20日鲍栋撰文于北京