Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2000, novelist Gao Xingjian is also an artist whose paintings are exhibited worldwide. Born in China in 1940, the multitalented Gao also excelled equally as a critic and playwright, but when his avant-garde plays were banned, he left China in 1987 and settled in France, where he lives today. A champion of a return to painting as a pure, intuitive form of expression, he remains as free from the diktats of the contemporary art market as he was from Communist censorship.
Illustrated throughout with two hundred reproductions, this stunning book showcases for the first time over two decades of Gao Xingjians visual oeuvre. Gaos groundbreaking technique allows him to work with ink, a traditional Chinese medium, on large canvases. Inspired by a dreamlike inner world, Daoism, the Chinese literati painting tradition, and Western modernism, Gao Xingjians masterful ink-wash paintings envelop and transport the viewer to another plane. Daniel Bergezs accompanying text draws from Gaos Soul Mountain and other works to offer insights into these enigmatic landscapes and figures. Also included is an interview with the artist that reveals the motivation behind Gaos unique pictorial creations.
Review
“Like his writing, his paintings convey poetry, intellect, and powerful narrative. At the same time, Gao . . . is a master of ink technique, and his works exude a creative energy born of Chinese tradition while being thoroughly universal and contemporary. . . . Whatever the current winds of whim and politics, Gaos place in Chinas cultural history appears to be indisputably set.” New York Times, on an exhibition of Gao Xingjian's paintings
Review
“A mesmerizing gallery of ink-wash works that illustrates the different techniques, themes and periods in Gaos extensive body of work. The . . . book, however, is more than just a monochrome beauty. Bergez . . . plumbed the depths of Gaos works in brush and pen to surface the profound harmony between his writings and paintings. The result: a visually sumptuous read that is erudite yet approachable.” Huang Lijie
Review
“A triumph.” The Straits Times (Singapore)
Review
“[Gao] has been both lauded and criticised internationally for the complicated, elusive and labyrinthine structure of Soul Mountain, which eschews a traditional plot for a series of personal, evocative ruminations. . . . His paintings, though deep, are burdened by no such convolutions. Their beauty lies in their intense simplicity. His works (always black ink on paper and, later, canvas) blend the abstract and the literal in remarkable, decisive ways. Images are fluid and interpretation is open, like a Rorschach. Is that a tree? A telephone pole? A bleeding wound? . . . Collected, the images are nothing short of astonishing.” The Straits Times (Singapore)
Review
“A triumph.” Madeline Gressel - South China Morning Post
Review
“Highly readable and enjoyable. . . . Generously oversized, the book beautifully illustrates Gaos work.” Madeline Gressel - South China Morning Post
Review
“A triumph.” The Bangkok Post Magazine
About the Author
Daniel Bergez is an author, painter, literary and art critic, and professor of French literature. His books on the relationship between pictorial and literary creation, including
Litt�rature et peinture (
Literature and Painting), are authorities in the field.
Sherry Buchanan is a publisher, editor, and author. Before she created Asia Ink, she worked for the
Wall Street Journal and
The International Herald Tribune in Brussels, Paris, London, and Hong Kong.
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Table of Contents
Gao Xingjian, Painter of the Soul Daniel Bergez
At the Crossroads of Inspirations
Painting as Experience
Painting and Language
A Painter of the Soul
Interrogating the Works
An Interview with the Artist Sherry Buchanan
Notes
Appendices