By Wang Jiang

Whenever I think of that era, it seems that it is still close to me because tenderness and worry still exist. I don’t remember who ever said that “it is difficult to think of and understand its early morning at the twilight days of life…The light is ever-changing, so is the understanding about the things you see.” We cannot talk about that era easily and comfortably. Only those born after the 1960s can realize secularism and ridiculous attitude.

Born in Shanghai in 1954, Ma Kelu later moved to Beijing with his father. He became a member of the No Name Painting Association in the 1970s. His artistic process has diversified periodicity, and after nearly 50 years of artistic practice, he has become a special case in the contemporary Chinese abstract painting field. Starting from the early-1970s when he devoted himself to artistic practice, destiny has put him in an underflow that pursues artistic freedom. Moreover, the historical change of future art has accumulated energy in the way of simmering within some artistic phenomena departing from official aesthetics since that age. Today, the most original intuition, selection and pursuit in his artistic practice already put him in the following gaze of historical vision in the youth of Ma Kelu.

The works to be displayed during the exhibition of Scenery, Light, Time and Life are exactly the landscape oil paintings created by artist Ma Kelu from 1972 to 1984. They works were completed in the way of outdoor paint from life, but if we only use the meaning of landscape paint from life to judge the artistic value, we would have been caught in the limitation of formalism. It has become a crucial question that how should we understand the works of the veteran of contemporary Chinese painting who is still vibrant today and stare at the colors and brushworks nearly half a century ago. The distance between that age and today is ambiguous, and for young visitors, the distance is neither too close, nor too far, and they cannot consider these works from a sufficient distance like facing the heritage of the artistic history. Yet, these works contained the belief in and pursuit for artistic freedom of the artist in that age of art politicalization. These small and exquisite works were drawn on papers of different textures which are just about 20-30 centimeters. The selection of such size is more convenient and secret for outdoor paint from life. One can imagine that in the era of the Cultural Revolution, any art that did not serve mainstream politics was definitely heresy, and any dangerous behavior without vigilance would lead to inestimable consequence. For decades, the rapid transition of artistic context and constant expansion of visitors’ vision have seemingly enabled us to forget the once dictatorial artistic system and extreme cultural policy, and ignore the avant-garde artistic product difficult to be separate from its own history and happened in a kind of non-internationalized cultural field. In addition, they were created in an era without artistic market. Due to the limitation of historical experience, young visitors may underestimate the meaning behind these landscape works – resistance of the painter to the mainstream value – the ideal of pursuing freedom inspired Ma Kelu to “escape” from the artistic standards serving politics and participate in the self-organized practice of artistic group, so as to express the personal selection of artistic belief by approaching and manifesting the nature. Therefore, we cannot understand the spiritual meaning of these works by breaking away from art itself, and young visitors should understand historical truth and then have a correct understanding about the avant-garde quality of the former art although we still cannot comment the tragic era publicly and freely until today.

Scenery, Light, Time and Life – Its multiple meanings remind the visitors that the works apply to diversified angles of understanding. But if we want to judge their meaning, we not only cannot break away from the social and cultural contexts that enabled their creation, but also cannot ignore the context of the creation clues of the artist. Only via closer experience and observation, can we get rid of the stiff recognition of the representation of style. What needs to be emphasized that since the 1970s, a kind of “growing-up feature” in artistic creation has all the more highlighted the value of these early works as the artistic career of Ma Kelu is advanced constantly and his personal creation system is expanded over time. Prudential inquirers can find the secrets in these small paintings from the subsequent abstract creation. The text below will summarize the milestones and directions of creation of the artist during this period in time sequence, occasionally remind relevant historical background, and review some works in a condensed manner.

The then U.S. President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972, and as affected by the diplomatic strategy of “foreign art” (instructed by Zhou Enlai), the impact of the Cultural Revolution was somewhat eased. In the same year, Ma Kelu returned to the urban area of Beijing from Xujiawu, Pinggu Distrct where he lived and worked in a production team, and started to work while studying on painting. For him, the year was an opportunity for the change of life direction and also the arrangement of predestination, when he got acquainted with friends from the No Name Painting Association and started realistic practice of landscape paint from life. In the year, he drew up some solitary streetscapes.

The cultural and literature environment was extremely harsh from 1973 to 1976 when the Cultural Revolution continued, and the cultural policies of criticizing “monster painting” and “wicked painting” often happened in the cultural field. In the meantime, Kelu MA brought with him the self-made paint box and went deep into scenic spots and parks of Beijing. Yuyuantan, Zizhuyuan, Xiangshan and Shichahai were the places he and his painting friends of the No Name Painting Association often went to. These places were the artistic Utopia where he was immersed in after work, and the friendship between him and the painting friends became the helping hand for his artistic progress. They inspired each other spiritually, and hardened their skills during communications and studies. For Kelu MA, the year 1975 was an important period in that stage, when his painting skill became impeccable and stable, and numerous works he created in the year became the small climax of his personal sketching practice in the 1970s. Through these works, the visitors can appreciate the artistic conception of tranquil spring mountain and bright autumn water, and also see the tonality control with the features of impressionism. Tonality, light and shadow convey the atmosphere and moment of the landscape, and the pictures are coherent and fine-tuned. “Flat, thin and concise”, “bright and clear” are the distinctive features of the period. When we carefully look at these small paintings, such as First Snow, Kunming Lake and Haziness, we can find that the sensitivity to materials is the strong point of the paint from life of Kelu MA, and the combination of paints and papers demonstrates a special charm under his strokes. Sometimes, paints seem as Chinese ink painting with both wet and dry strokes; sometimes, he used brushes rapidly, swept the paper and left haste hollow strokes. The painting process was quite at odds with impressionism in using colors and brushes, and the prospect and aroma of China were easily revealed in his paintings. But by 1976, the landscape painting of Kelu MA started to show some changes, and the processing of sense of form of the pictures became more explicit, such as Summer Willow, Rural Road, and Sunset in Maple Forest. Summer Willow showed a kind of full breadth strong brushwork with consistent movement, and the emotion and abstractness of the picture were intentionally enhanced. And in the year, the power system of China’s political field was undergoing drastic turmoil.

The Cultural Revolution came to an end comprehensively in 1977. As spring followed winter, the cultural environment became to revive, and since the year, Kelu MA has had new directions in landscape painting. The works created in the period demonstrated changing scale and size of picture. This was the materialization of the artist’s requirement for materials, and reflected to some extent that his sense of purpose for the expression result was enhanced. The degree of boldness in utilizing colors exceeded the objective expression emphasized by paint from life, and the image was totally crushed by him. For example, the audience cannot identify the specific contents simply from the picture of the Imperial Palace and Bund. But on the other hand, the feature differences of the works became large gradually, and such instability pointed to his ever urgent demand for experiment. Meanwhile, the picture also intentionally emphasized a kind of unfinished sense. Style deduction no longer followed rational logic; rather, the works were more loyal to the instant inner feeling of the artist. Therefore, every work had distinctive independence. Drum Tower, the work created in 1981, even demonstrated a kind of particularity, with the sudden return of image objectivity and massive brushwork. But the purity of color was reduced to nearly black and white, the dull-red city wall and gray unmelted snow sent forth depressive breath, and the picture showed a sorrowful sense of reality. But by 1982, Kelu MA also started the experiment of abstract painting while maintaining paint from life. Exactly in the year, the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China initiated the “Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign” rejecting the erosion of western thought. After that, the Movement sharply criticized abstract painting appeared in the art world.

It has been 36 years since the Kongtong Island trip of Kelu MA, and the former young artist has become a veteran in today’s art world. The lengthy artistic time contains his life journey full of twists and turns. In the late-80s, he left China and settled in New York after travelling around Europe, and returned to China again in 2006. From his departure to return, Kelu MA created many periods in his artistic clues. And works created in every period carry his changing artistic pursuit and feeling about life.

Time has changed. The works displayed under “Scenery, Light, Time and Life” are the summary of the early creation periods of Kelu MA, and also provide a visual local sample for studying on the generation path of abstract painting language. Like a mirror of history, the works and the past scene remind us of suspending those generally favored inertial standards when thinking and differentiating the independent spirit of art.

Beijing

July 10, 2020