Distance from Nature

Shi Xiang’s ‘Cotton’ series was originally based on sketches of cotton, and what touched me most when I saw his ‘Cotton’ series for the first time in the studio was the marks of the rubber scratching hard in the picture as well as the thick rubber shavings on the ground, and that kind of strong visual sensation generated by the process of the behavior was unreservedly recorded and presented by the thick paper, and even the action of gently sweeping over it was also recorded in an undisguised way. These strokes (addition) and traces (subtraction) are intertwined as if they are trying to form an image result, but before your brain begins to summarize, all your attention is firmly attracted by the extremely tense traces of the brush strokes in the picture. How did they draw it？It is clear that they did not copy the cotton, but under the seemingly random arrangement of the brush strokes, there is a shadow of ‘cotton’. Obviously, it is not completely imaginary, but it is obvious that the artist has reduced the influence and interference of cotton as a visual cue to a very low range.

That’s right, those seemingly intentional but ‘uncontrolled’ lines, strokes, and scratches have formed a unique space and time between the arrangements. There, the artist’s hesitations, corrections, certainties and difficulties are all recorded by those meticulous, certain, loose, disorderly and cascading traces of strokes. There, time unfolds with the latitude of feeling, and each moment of the brush hints at the future direction. There, the artist can only put down his subjective imagination, try to shield himself from the strong interference of the reality and nature, and completely devote himself to the space-time under the brush, and the paper, pencil, charcoal and eraser in his hand come here with pleasure, and go back to his home with pleasure. When you step out of this space-time and see the picture again, you can’t help but exclaim: ‘I’ve actually been there!’