Ca-Ching! Fa-Chang was on the Money!

Thinking About Art and stuff in the Southcoast, MA – SIMPLICITY.  MATHEMATICAL RELATIONSHIPS.  CONTRAST.  REPETITION. ALIGNMENT.  PROXIMITY.  IT’S ALL HERE!  “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection,” so said the Buddha.

On that bit of wisdom, may I offer this, “You can search throughout the entire universe for perfection.  The first step to realizing perfection is to admit you are less than perfect.  It is in seeking perfection that we frustrate ourselves.  Perfection, we must remind ourselves is not the destination but the journey itself.“  Sometimes, however, we are allowed a glimpse of perfection.  It is made all the more glorious when we know we had a hand in it. The challenge then is to realize that we cannot duplicate that fleeting moment of perfection but must instead remain vigilant in its pursuit once more and forever. 

When I was in college, one of my painting instructors lectured us on this painting - Six Persimmons, a Chinese 13th century painting by the Buddhist monk, Mu Qi (Moo-Chee).  He was also known by his given name Fa-Chang. He lived and worked during the Song dynasty.  He engaged in the spontaneous mode of Chinese painting. The painting of the Six Persimmons was famous in his own lifetime. It was both admired and revered for the high level of  brushstroke skills.

Yet, this is still a simple painting by a simple monk.  For many reasons, it may be considered the most perfect painting ever executed.  It may also be considered more even more amazing because Mu Qi was not an artist, just a monk.  But then, in my opinion, may I submit that the first artists were the first priests. Regardless, in my estimation, it is the Rosetta Stone of Art.  Why?  What does that mean?  The Rosetta Stone unlocked the secrets of ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics. The Six Persimmons unlocks the secret; the simple essence of Art.  Why?  How?  Mu Qi employed an almost perfect balance of the concept or principle of contrast.  His thick and thin brushstrokes, the rendering of the persimmons from light to dark and from subtle nuances to bold brushstrokes are all contrasts, or contradictions or more precisely; paradoxes. 

The concept or principle he explored of repetition is obvious.  Six persimmons.  A repeated shape. Simple. But, what may not be as obvious is his concept of repetition is what the repetition has been employed for – visual rhythm.  It captures the eye.  It creates a playground for the intellect and combined with the other concepts, it is almost musical.

Fa-Chang the man and Mu Qi the Buddhist monk cashed-in, if I may be allowed to use that term, on a single work that that continues to engage and enchant the viewer in almost the same exact way as it did the day it was painted. It represents Art itself.  The concept or principle of alignment is verified by the almost musical placement of the fruit.

To continue, the concept or principle of proximity is obvious.  The six persimmons become three groups, then two and that’s where the incredible visual vitality kicks in and keeps on going.  The visual plane keeps shifting, teasing and evolving.  However, to the untrained and uninitiated, all of this makes no sense at all.  What is all of this gushing for?  What does it all really mean? 

Before I forget, please let me identify the author of  C.R.A.P. (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment & Proximity).  Robin Williams, coined the C.R.A.P. acronym.  I was introduced it to me in her book - The Non-Designer's Design Book: Design and Typographic Principles for the Visual Novice.   She stumbled on the concept in a classic moment of epiphany; better known these days as an aha moment.  The moment came about as the result of her sudden consciousness about the ubiquitous Joshua Trees growing in her neighborhood.  The lesson learned was: Once you identify or name something, you become conscious of it.  Once you are conscience of something, you have power over it. You own it; you control it.

C.R.A.P. is Robin’s basis or her Four Principles of Design.  Now that you know this, you can apply it to the Six Persimmons.  His use of contrast, for example.  [I've identified the other principles/concepts in the preceding paragraphs] The list of contrasts available to an artist are endless and pretty much define the Zen mind. Contrasts are opposites and paradoxes.  Up and down.  Left and right.  Large and small.  Bright and dull.  Light and dark.  The list is infinite.  

Yes, I know and can imagine the thoughts of those not trained in the Fine Arts or who at the very least have not been introduced to the principles of Art – crap it is!  All you see are six blobs of something that looks like apples.  Are you ignorant?  No.  Are you uncouth?  No.  Look, Art, in lots of ways is no different than wine.  Both are simple concepts and both can be enjoyed simply.  But, to truly enjoy both, you need to be alive.  By that I mean conscious.  To be fully conscious, your senses need to be on high alert.  It’s amazing how many folks don’t really taste their food or drink; who look but don’t see; who hear but never really listen and who touch but don’t feel. 

Why is this true?  A lack of education.  There is too much to cover on this subject in one post.  This singular piece of art, in my opinion, is a visual representation of a DNA sequence.  The information is coded and only obvious to those versed in the code.  Fa-Chang the man and Mu Qi the Buddhist monk was trained in enlightenment, the code, if you will.  His simple work  goes beyond the physical to the metaphysical. From the secular to the spiritual.   

We all have the capacity for love but what is it really?  It’s no different for Art.  As the song from Beauty and the Beast goes, “Certain as the sun, Rising in the East, Tale as old as time...”  The concept for the Disney hit came to us from France but the concept originated with Greek novelist and rhetorician, Apuleius’ Cupid and Psyche.  It is a tale as old as time.  Once you are conscience of something, you have power over it. The Buddha said, “Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”  That’s my point!