As one of the oldest artistic mediums, what more possibilities does painting still have after centuries of development? Breaking new barriers in painting is an enormous challenge, one that painters from both the east and the west constantly tackle. LIN Wei-Hsiang’s art has evolved tremendously in the past ten plus years: he began by painting still life subjects. And over time, he shifts towards nature and landscape. In recent years, Lin has grown more confident and implemented elements from Chinese ink wash paintings and his own observation of nature and space into his work. As his imagination and dreams form an increasingly integral part of his work and painting process, Lin is able to fuse these subjective elements into his own “Mindscape Paintings”. Although he was inspired by both traditional Chinese ink wash and western oil paintings, Lin’s own aesthetics and visual languages have evolved beyond both disciplines and morphed into his own style where the warmth, moisture, wind and fragrance of nature are all conveyed through his “landscape paintings”.
Lin’s “landscape paintings” encompass a myriad of sceneries. Some resemble dreamscapes and evoke a sense of d.j. vu, others are reflections of Lin’s ideal mindscape, a profound space where he can roam freely. All the landscapes are ultimately renderings of Lin’s self-image, a kind of eastern spirituality expressed through western mediums. Though Lin himself believes his work is closer to traditional Chinese ink wash paintings, I believe his work has departed from both ink wash and western paintings. From an aesthetics perspective, Lin’s paintings are indeed closer to eastern art. However, the relations between men and nature commonly seen in Chinese liberati paintings and garden architecture is not the same as Lin’s perspective of nature. The perspective in western paintings does not apply to his work either. The distance from both major disciplines is perhaps why Lin’s “landscape paintings” evoke an imagined space where the artist brings us along on a journey, a dream, a d.j. vu...
