“Module”, an element repeatedly occurring in the works of Tan Ping, forms the basic grammar in his creation. He devised a module for many of his works. Whichever module with distinctive rules will be employed is based on the preconceived notion, and forms only serve as a means to execute the module. For example, his work 60×60 is cut in measurements of different proportions ranging from 60cm to its integer multiples; and the color woodcut series, the wood is cut by a standard proportion of one second or the multiples of one second before being printed on the paper with numerous combinations that are mutually overlapped; Follow my line (《彳亍》) comes as a collection of several hundred sketches, with each sketches drew within two minutes; One Cup(《一杯》) is finished by pouring ink of the same full cup for two hundred times from the same angle.
“Module” itself will develop a work and produce a variable. This variable is diverse in terms of quantity, sometimes several, sometimes several hundred, and sometimes close to infinity. All circles are different from each other, and all traces are different from each other.
Tan designed the second set of module system to transform the concept into a visible form. How 60×60 is displayed each time depends on its relationship with the wall space and works on the left and right. The several dozens of sketches in Follow My Line are placed on platforms with different heights. Distance, proportion and distribution among sketches are accompanied by various rhythms and pauses, just like the application of metronomes in time. Therefore, the module is indicative of time.
The emergence of the work＋40m derived from an idea to occupy the space of the gallery. During a period of consecutive six hours, Tan lined out a 40m line on the wood, which was printed into a picture encircling the gallery with circular space. Existing module gives birth to new module, hence the work - 40m as negative space of ＋40m by accident. Modules are used to change the space, and ended up with two kinds of space, positive and negative. Therefore, the module is also indicative of space.
No module is pure module. Once applied, a module will exhibit elements of ideology, reality and individuality. Concept and module are different. The former hints at the future direction for an artist, with the latter only being part of the former. Module serves to execute the concept. When the 9 videos in the antechamber to the exhibition hall are put together, the module becomes a systematic concept which indicates the artist’s understanding of the value, role and spiritual symbol of art.
The first work Time on the left of the exhibition and the last one …… on the right throw light on the starting point of the clue and the current result. In 1993, Tan created his first work Time featuring interactive space. Moving beyond the plane，his creation ambitious was stimulated by the transformation and experiment of media, and changes in the display means. At the same year, he also created another work Balance, which marked the beginning of the earliest “module”. He sought after the sense of history and infinite variables of plane to establish grammar of a variety of modules, which makes every part universal and connected in a reasonable way.
After 10 years, he made efforts with repeated erasure and revision, accompanied by mutual offset and coverage; he repeatedly poured the same glass of ink for a whole day to seek a state closest to a circle; he used a knife to draw a line in the most authoritative main hall of the most authoritative museum of China; he created several hundreds of sketches, with erasure for a fixed period of time. In the end, no trace is superior to another. They are nothing but a stimulus to the next beginning.
In this sense, life is conceptual, and is also modular. Upon the emergence of ……, concept was completely revealed. He tried to convey the point that anything can replace art and anyone can become part of art. Tan reshapes himself and gets connected to life upon a combination of various elements of ideology, reality and individuality. In this sense, life is conceptual, and is also modular.
This system showed the mobility seen in Tan’s works starting from Time in 1993: a means of mobility and a continuous movement or experiment is like the waves moving in the river, an indication of continuous transformation one action after another.