You guys ever see this sort of artwork from Far East Asia?

This discussion reminds me of a film from Korea, I cannot tell you the name because the English subtitles do not begin until after the credits, but it is about the life and times of a very famous Korean Painter by the name of Jang Seung-Ub. This movie won critical acclaim at the Canne Film Festival. I must give allot of praise for the cinematography, which is stark yet beautiful, some of the best I've ever seen.

Anyway, this guy Seung Ub lived and died over a hundred years ago during the peasant revolts after the Chinese forced the Japanese and their modern reformist movement out. Historically, this would have been the same era as the "Last Samaria" was written about. No matter who was the imperial power of the peninsula of Korea, Japanese, Korean, Chinese; none would kill the artist Jang Seung - Ub for fear of the loss of his skills.

Steeped in the Asian classics, Seung Ub followed the beat of a different drummer.  In his day any artist who was called a professional followed the rules of the classics so much so that one could hardly tell the difference between a work from a long dead artist, and the new kid on the block.

And while Seung Ub did not depart so far from the classics as Van Gogh, Seung Ub's greatest detractors were the art critics of the day who claimed his work was not art because he departed too far from the classics because he did not write poetry on his paintings like the one I've displayed here. Yes, that text is poetry which tells the beholder what it is they are looking at. Jang Seung Ub preferred to let the observer figure what his paintings meant to them instead by writing only the title of the painting in the margins.

Breaking all the rules, his works were purchased by rulers from far away lands who demanded that he add elements (a common practice at the time - sort of like picking a suit off the rack and having it tailored to you). He once called the King of Korea an "Uncouth Fool" to his face for making such demands. And refused a high official of the dominate  China to make a replica of an earlier work.

This is not a movie review as per se. Rather what I am doing is to make reference to the fact that classic rules are important for learning, but, once you have a full understanding, they should only become tools which are malleable for creating art that is unique to the artist.

Jang Seung - Ub was a classic artist in the sense that he was not in it for the money; today we would call him a starving artist. After creating a series of simple masterpieces on crockery, Jang Seung Ub disappeared without a trace. Some believe that in the middle of the cold night, he crawled into the kin where his last works were firing, having completed his works.

 

Yank My Doodle, It's a Dandy!