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In-progress Forum --- “Yipai/The School of Notion” and “Mono-ha” |
At 2.30 p.m. on August 1, 2010, the exchange event “Yipai/The School of Notion and Mono-ha” took place at the Gao Minglu Contemporary Art Research Center, featuring celebrated art critic Dr Gao Minglu, Professor Zhun (Oil Painting, Kanazawa University of Arts and Crafts, Japan), Japanese artist Takahashi Haruki, and Professor Chen Xiaowen (Alfred University, USA). Also attending the forum were Chinese artists Wang Luyan, Song Yongping, Zhang Wei and Xiao Lu, among others. This was one of a series of academic “In-progress Forum” events hosted by the Gao Minglu Contemporary Art Research Center. The main purpose of the current discussion was to clarify the differences and connections between the Chinese “Yipai/School of Notion” and the Japanese “Mono-ha”, and the formal interrelations between these two artistic forms, both of East Asian origin.
Yipai/The School of Notion is a new concept that was established by Dr Gao Minglu in his 2007 exhibition “Yipai: Thirty Years in Chinese Abstractionism”. This art theory seeks to comprise the phenomena of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art, and to differentiate them from Western models of art theory, which are based on dichotomist opposition. The term “Notion” (yi 意 in Chinese) has three meanings. First, it can mean “meaning”, that is, the essential meaning or notion of an object. Second, it means yijing, 意境，the abstract “artistic conception or notion, or mindscape” of traditional aesthetics. Third, it also means “empathy or understanding”, the concept of experiencing the subjective from the objective. Although Yipai/School of Notion theory is derived from Eastern traditions, it is not just an adaptation of the ancient for present-day uses. In fact, the theoretical foundation of Yipai/The School of Notion originates from a revision and critique of Western Modernist and Post-modernist culture and aesthetics. It is an attempt to transform eastern philosophy and tradition and put them to use by Chinese Contemporary Art. It also hopes to establish China’s own system of Modern and Contemporary art theory, and to free Chinese Modern and Contemporary art from the awkward predicament of ceaseless imitation and importation of western artistic forms that prejudice its Eastern subjectivity.
Mono-ha (物派) theory is an art phenomenon that appeared in Japan in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It held an important position in Japan, and was influential worldwide. This artistic phenomenon changed the history of Japanese Modernist Art, which had imitated or accommodated Western art ever since the Meiji Restoration. Mono-ha was an art form imbued with a purely Eastern spirit, and accordingly provoked a discussion about the Asian reception of Modern art. Lee Ufan, who theorized Mono-ha, was theoretically influenced by the thinking of the Chan (Zen) School, and stressed the subjectivity of the “thing” or object, presenting the thing/object as such, in order to emphasize the relationship of mutual dependence of awareness and existence. Through the manifestation of the mere thing in itself, this relationship is realized in the chance encounters of the “original world”, and thus achieves liberation from conceptual dilemmas. In this respect, it serves the same purpose as Minimalism. In addition to Lee Ufan, important Mono-ha artists include Nobuo Sekine, Tomio Koyama, Narita Katsuhiko and Koshimizu Susumu.
Yipai/The School of Notion is a concept proposed recently, whereas Mono-ha was an art phenomenon of the last century. Yet there are subtle connections between the two. In terms of social background, both were born at a time of national power and of gradual economic expansion, and of a strengthening of ethnic self-confidence. The economic rivalry with the Western world caused intellectuals also to demand cultural independence from the West. In art theory, they also wanted to resolve the problem of the local adaptation of Modern and Contemporary art. In this respect, the goals of Mono-ha and Yipai/The School of Notion are similar. On the other hand, Yipai/The School of Notion differs from Mono-ha in that it advocates a return to humanity, and respect for individual experience. Yipai/The School of Notion emphasizes harmony with nature, and is a sorting-out and a summary of Chinese Contemporary art on the basis of Chinese traditional culture.
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