Measuring the Distance of "Light Year"
Interviewee | Rao Fu
It is nearly impossible to get an answer from Rao Fu's paintings. This impossibility is also the key to unlocking infinite possibilities. For Fu, what is unclear is clear, what is indescribable is describable. So how can viewers capture the so-called indescribable in Fu's paintings? And how can Fu paint and measure the distance of "light year" through his paint brushes? The clues are hidden in the concept of the Infinitrace exhibition. Speaking about the concept of Infinitrace, Fu sat thoughtfully on a sofa and slowly explained:
Rao Fu: Infinitrace is my second solo exhibition in a museum—the first being at the Dresden State Art Collections in Germany. In contrast, the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts is much bigger, which also makes it a bigger challenge for me personally. The planning for the exhibition began half a year ago. The concept of "Light Year" didn't emerge until towards the end of my creative process. This has to do with my habit of creation. I prefer not to have a preset framework or a theme beforehand, upon which to base my creations. Instead, I prefer to let my imagination roam wild and let it build organically into creations. Of course, as I look back at my personal art history, I realize that my past exhibitions and creations are all about time. For instance, Qi Nian, my first solo exhibition after graduation, and later on, PLANKTON, Pushing Hands, and CENTURY at the Platform China Contemporary Art Institute in 2018 are all related to time. Relating to time and space, the distance of "light year" contains endless possibilities—distance between the canvas and I, distance between people and I, distance between my hometown and I, distance between my child and I—all of these merge with the experiences and feelings of my personal life. The topic "Light Year" epitomizes my works at this moment. Of course, "Light Year" has something to do with the way I create, especially in the creation of large-scale paintings. The depiction of each corner is like a freeze-frame shot, fleeting and transient, where I intend to express the time-warped speed and time through brushstrokes."
Having talked about the concept and essence of the exhibition, one can't help but want to explore the differences between Fu's various solo exhibitions. CENTURY, Fu's last solo exhibition at the Platform China Contemporary Art Institute suggests many contrasting elements: humans and spirits, gods and goodness, nature, violence, evolution, and the end of the world. This time around, Fu is injecting new energy in the Infinitrace exhibition to bring forth different feelings for the viewers. What kind of pluralistic energies are we talking about?
Compared to CENTURY, Infinitrace retains an expression of specific historical figures and images, especially the expressive sum of people and things seen in 17th-century Baroque paintings. It's a topic that I've constantly explored in my previous works. Living in a foreign country, the expression of characters presents a challenge for me every time. I may not even know what it is like, perhaps a chimera, a presentation that is faintly sketchy in form. I attempt to capture the essence of things, which should be the simplest, just as how children's paintings express the characters. Then again, the works in Infinitrace have incorporated my questions about humanity and the environment, while blending in a father's love for his family. Viewers had told me that they can see "light" and "darkness" in my works. To some extent, I give "darkness" more drama and more intensity by using darker tones to render the so-called "darkness". But all of this is done to accentuate "light". This is why there are many narrative scenes in my paintings, where "light" peeks through the contrast of colors. And the "light" represents hope and strength," Fu responded.
Introspection of pluralistic superposition
When it comes to creation itself, it is inevitable to talk about the influence of the upbringing of an artist. A significant turning point in Rao Fu's life is 2001, when Fu left Qingdao, China for Dresden, Germany to pursue study. Later in 2009, he got married, had a child and settled down in Dresden. This process creates defining moments of temporal-spatial aggregation for the artist. Talking about this, Fu's drifted back to 2001, ruminating his journey between these two countries, and recalled:
Rao Fu said, "When an artist creates in a foreign country, the creations are very likely to be related to their inner feelings. This kind of emotion is multi-faceted. There is homesickness, a cry for cultural identity and to be accepted. It's a process of hoping to assimilate into the foreign culture while resisting the urge to define their cultural identity. After living in Germany for a while, I actually became more interested in the humanities and philosophy behind Chinese landscape paintings. For me, this is some kind of cultural soil. Over 20 years of my youth, it has taken root in my heart and still runs in my blood. Perhaps it fits my inner temperament, an invisible power for me to feel the cultural pulse of the landscape mountains and rivers of the Song and Yuan Dynasties. People are part of nature that has the power to make people feel completely serene. The composition is somewhat dynamic, leaving a deep impression and resonance to the viewers. However, when compared to the great scenery of the German Romantic period, the composition is a whole other interpretation. I want to superimpose the experiences from both worlds, and it becomes a fusion of my own, giving birth to the creations I do now."
In the process of moving to a foreign land and the subsequent assimilation, German art education had subtly transformed how Rao Fu creates. Fu does not adopt the pre-supposed or pre-planned approach in his creative process, but immerses himself in the creation, while connecting his own relationship with history, time, space, experiences, child and family in an unconscious flow of consciousness. With regards to this approach to creation, Fu believes it is related to how he's educated in Germany:
Rao Fu: "German art education is rather different from my experiences in the past. It may be because art education in Germany is supported by theories, such as philosophy and psychology, so people don't get lost in it so easily. Plus, I have dabbled in art psychology, and I have a very strong feeling towards it. When I am deep in the creative process, I continue to make corrections; at the same time, I also practice introspection. After reaching a certain depth and I feel that there is no way to continue forward, I would deconstruct it before constructing a new one. I think that in the process of continual deconstruction and construction, as well as the constant introspection, coupled with the support of art history and philosophy, my creative works always maintain a kind of purity, self-spirit, introspection and emotions arising from within. Although German's minimalism and understanding of architecture are completely different from that of the Orient, the underlying philosophy is actually quite powerful."
This is how Fu creates—German-style introspective creative approach, carefully resisting excessive interference from the outside, the continuous questioning that opens up endless possibilities—where no answer is the only answer. Instead of pursuing the moment of solving a problem, he allows the continuous introspection and exploration to become the driving force of creation. He turns changing flows into some sort of sustainable persistence, which makes the span of history and space converge into the life and creation of the artist. This is why Rao Fu is an artist who cannot be defined by genre:
Rao Fu: "I don't want to be defined just like that. I want to keep an open mind in trying new things. Infinitrace is a representation of a stage of my creative journey. I think once I immerse myself in a certain cultural region for a while, the feeling that comes with it may lead me to raise even more questions or have different presentations."
When people talk about Rao Fu's paintings, they always mention that in addition to the implicit expressionism, German romanticism, and the integration of Chinese landscapes in Fu's paintings, they are also full of narrative, subtlety, ink wash charms, and engaging dynamics. Rao Fu's personal response to these comments are as follows:
Rao Fu: "This thinking happens after creations have already been made. I don't think about any of that in the process of creation. As an artist, I try to interpret the current artistic expression and current affairs through paintings, thinking and asking questions. However, I don't force myself to make connections with these issues, because I want them to naturally reveal themselves from within. This could be related to how I work—making no plans or goals before I create. This is especially true for composition. I tend to start with impromptu brushstrokes here and there. In the process, I am basically interacting with what I am creating. Afterwards, I also talk and discuss problems with other artists, but this exploration is not intended to solve a problem or give an answer. The question you ask may not necessarily have an answer. This exchange process is very similar to creation."
Breathing the Truth
When you really look into Rao Fu's paintings, the feelings come at you in different waves. At first, you feel fear with a mystery hidden underneath, and this mystery contains a guiding force. Not to guide the viewer to dig deeper into the darker side, this force actually draws you to serendipitously get in touch with the glimmer of hope and light shrouded in this cloud of darkness. This flickering hope or light stays in the viewer's mind, encapsulating pureness, sincerity and strength. In specific parts, there are constant changes and shifts. Nevertheless, there is a hidden and inexplicable state of not being able to be clearly given an answer. That's because what Rao Fu wants to give is not the answer per se, but the continuous state of questioning and perceiving, so that the viewer is immersed in the inability to capture the meaning of his works, while still breathing the truth of art. This is what Rao Fu wants to convey to the viewer through his paintings:
Rao Fu: "My paintings always carry with it some form of sorrow, but following the sorrow and after crossing the darkness, I want people to see a light. I think it is like an aura. You can use any form and content to express the spirit of a painting. To express this spirit, I infiltrate the painting through my body movement, rhythm, strokes, and so on. I hope my paintings are alive and breathing, so there are many levels of interpretation. Each viewer can add their own life experiences and then give their very own different interpretations. There can be more than one answer, perhaps thousands. I am narrating, but my narrative is like what you said: clear in the unclear, clarity in the chaos. If I compare myself to a film director, I am essentially using the principles of painting to give painting dramatic layers. One thing that may not often be mentioned is that my work is actually a mirror to my mind, a portrayal of sorts, but viewers may have to peruse a bulk of my works before they can feel it."
After observing Rao Fu in person up close, the writer feels that Fu has a pure and authentic character, which is not obtained from his words but from his actions. His paintings also reveal his true colors. For instance, during the short breaks in setting up the exhibition, Rao Fu would sit quietly in a corner of the vast exhibition space and create things in his own drawing book. When he has free time, he doesn't go on sightseeing tours. Instead, he takes his paper and pen, and walk around Taipei, taking in the urbanscape and drawing the distance between he and Taipei. Compared to a series of back-to-back media interviews, Rao Fu would rather spend time sitting on the exhibition floor with a little girl who he's never met and talk with her about his exhibition. For him, external status is not important, as social background, prominence, or artistic knowledge are not of his concern. He sees people with pure eyes and treats art with the same pureness. This is what's important to him—truth exists in the way he sees life and it shows in his paintings.
Rao Fu: "I feel that the closer you get to the truth, the more it can make people be in awe and moved. I, as an artist, have the courage to let others see that in my works. I need to breathe, and I keep breathing. This shows that I am constantly engaged in artistic creation. I hope that my creations can also breathe, meaning they are alive and allow people to see all kinds of emotions, good or evil. Art is an expression of my inner self. But it is also more than that. It's something I have to face as an artist: asking questions. Getting the answers to these problems may take ten or twenty years, even a whole lifetime. And it must be done with a sincere heart. I hope that my creations are as sincere as my attitude towards art."
Rao Fu conveys an indescribable narrative, an inexpressible statement. This state of being indescribable suggests a true state, as an artist who cannot and does not want to be defined. Fu uses life as a measure and art as his way of breathing to bring truth to the world. Therefore, if we want to understand or interpret Fu's art through merely a painting or an exhibition, we are making the mistake of being assertive and overly interpretative. It would be a pity for anyone who has been so close to his art. Rao Fu is using his universe to convey his artistic attitude: it is both linear and non-linear, both comprehensive and fragmentary, both temporal and spatial. "Light year" is not only used by Fu to measure the distance of time and space, but to measure the distance of his life. If Fu's greatest work is his life of truth, shouldn't we also spend a lifetime savoring his art?
