constructing contemporary reductive abstract painting through the ancient chinese garden. craig

277 Pages·2015·10.35 MB·English

by  Craig Easton

A STRANGE ARRANGEMENT:
CONSTRUCTING CONTEMPORARY REDUCTIVE ABSTRACT
PAINTING THROUGH THE ANCIENT CHINESE GARDEN.

CRAIG EASTON

Volume 1 of 3

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(by creative work and dissertation)

Produced on archival quality paper

School of Art, Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts
The University of Melbourne
July 2014
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ABSTRACT
This project researches a path into the ancient, non-western, non-painting artistic
tradition of the Chinese literati garden as a means of reading and generating
contemporary reductive abstract painting practices. Moving beyond appeals to
geometric space, utilizing Chinese concepts including oscillating opposites and framed
views or jing, the research conducted through writing and project identifies a notion of
ʻrealmʼ. This place is ultimately defined as a multi-dimensional, immersive space within
which reductive abstract painting practices might best (re)form themselves.

There are three volumes with the first setting up the twin fields of the enquiry, charting
a path through twentieth century abstraction and ancient Chinese gardens. Here the
opportunity is taken to explore gaps in the reading of Western abstraction typically
operating within binary modes such as ʻform versus contentʼ. At the same time there is
a consideration of the Chinese garden as historical site bound by tradition yet itself
continually undergoing a process of change.

Volume 2 draws on multiple sources to create an index of garden devices and effects,
many of which are used to generate the practice-led projects of Volume 3. These
projects reflect the development and testing of ideas drawn from the Chinese garden
as a conceptual and structural model for reductive abstraction. Utilising traditional
gallery and non-gallery spaces there is a progression through the initial testing of
garden devices in the Formwork gallery project of 2011, followed by the architecturally
led Mod Lang (2012) and Here & There/Now & Then (2011-2013). In each case the
documentation is interwoven with reading and writing that has informed practice, so
recognizing an interlacing of words and things essential to the greater project.
Combined with understandings of the garden as a place beyond space-time
assumptions there is an emergent ʻrealmʼ within which the practice-led projects of
Concentrated Abstraction (2012) and 50 Variations (2013) are constructed.

Just as the series of formal and conceptual alignments predicated on the unlikely
model of Chinese literati gardens drive many of the choices made, the mediums of
video, sound, photography, object making, and architectural intervention replace paint
applied to canvas and other ʻtraditionalʼ supports. In this strange arrangement between
diverse modes of ʻmakingʼ and ʻthinkingʼ the identification of reductive abstract
paintingʼs potential to operate as a truly multi-dimensional, immersive form is revealed.
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DECLARATION

This is to certify that
(i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where
indicated in the Preface.
(ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used.
(iii) the thesis is fewer than 60, 000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps,
bibliographies and appendices.

Craig Easton ………………………………………………

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank my always exceptional Supervisors, Professor Su Baker and
Associate Professor Greg Missingham. Without their generosity of time and spirit this
document, and the projects contained within it, would simply not exist.
Financial assistance from Melbourne Research Scholarship: VCA & M Conference and
Creative Research Activity Fund; Melbourne Abroad Travel Scholarship; M.A. Bartlett
Special Travel Grant; iAIR International Artist in Residence Programme, RMIT
University.
East China Normal University: Professor Wei Tianyu, staff and students of the Fine Art
Department; and Joyce Huang for expert assistance on all things Shanghai.
Associate Professor Barb Bolt for looking after the path of things.
Associate Professor Jan Murray and Dr Stephen Haley for guidance in my first year.
Leanne Evans, plus Bianca Durrant, Katy Greenland, and staff of the Graduate
Research Office.
Technical and construction assistance beyond what I had a right to expect from
Kate Elliot, Tim Edwards, Mark Friedlander and technicians of the VCA Workshops.
Greg von Menghe and James for perfect frames, Marshall 50, Boss GT-6 and Tube
Factor.
Andrew Wuttke for video and photographic assistance on Listening to the Rain/Wave
Pavilion.
Alex and Larry at Lido Tel for acrylic fabrications and framings.
Andrew Budge and Katherine Chadwick for graphic assistance and much else besides.
Patricia Garner and Simon Tan for trusting me to Mod Lang their home.
The hard work of Martin Schaecher in realizing Now & Then/Here & There.
The early encouragements, advice and conversations of many including
David Thomas, Peter Ellis, Robin Kingston.
Nellie Castan and staff for the white cube.
Chris Bond, PJ Hickman for assistance in matters pertaining to white cubes.
Vikki McInnes and Scott Miles of the Margaret Lawrence Gallery.
Lorna Easton for the long hot summers of writing in Dunedin.

Dedicated to Ronald Easton (1929–2009).
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOLUME 1

Title Page 1
Abstract 3
Declaration 4
Acknowledgements 5
Table of Contents 7
A note on the citation system 10
A note on translation of garden names 10

PREFACE
What Bugs Me. Post Modern to Post Critical 11

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Thom Yorke is singing 14
Thinking Paths and Finding Frames 25

CHAPTER 2: THE FIELD
A Discourse. Abstraction will Eat itself 31
Locating my Project 38
Crossing the Threshold 46
Crossing Disciplines 48
Chinese Garden Histories 55
History Reduced 63
Minimalism. And its Posts 71

VOLUME 2

CHAPTER 3: INDEX
On Reading 84
Opposites 86
Garden as Painting/Painting as Garden 87
Scrolls 93
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Calligraphy/Text/Image 93
Poetry 94
Naming 95
Jing 96
Space 98
Literary Space 100
Garden Records and Imaginary Gardens 101
The Void 101
Architecture 102
Site 105
Walls 106
Windows 107
Doors 109
Openwork 110
Borrowed Views 111
Scale 113
Moving and Still 114
Scenic Clusters 115
Pathways 115
Lang 117
Bridges 118
Water 120
Rocks and Mountains 121
Plants 125
Natural/Artificial and Authenticity 126
Cueing 129
Vitality 129
Reverie 130
Mystery 130
Magic Space 132
Beyond Sight 134
Viewer as Participant 135
On Endings 137

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VOLUME 3

CHAPTER 4: THE PROJECTS
Garden as Device: Formwork 154
In (a) Space: Mod Lang 164
Now & Then/Here & There 173
Garden as Realm: Beyond Space. Concentrated Abstraction 181
With(in) the Real(m): 50 Variations 201

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
Remote Thoughts 226

APPENDICES
Reference List 236
List of Illustrations 243
Catalogue of Works 252
A Strange Arrangement 269

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A note on the citation system:
This paper uses the Chicago in-text, author-date reference system with a single
reference list also taking the role of bibliography. Sources are listed alphabetically and
by date. In-text citations with corresponding page numbers lead directly to the
reference list. Where there are repeat consecutive references to a particular book the
in-text reference may be reduced to a bracketed page number alone in that section.
Non-consecutive multiple references to a single text may also be abbreviated where
appropriate.

Photos are by the author unless otherwise cited. Historical images of other artistsʼ
works are attributed in the list of illustrations.

A note on the translation of garden names:
Pinyin romanisation is used in all photo captions while, depending on descriptive
function, the text moves between pinyin and English translations. Different sources also
lead on occasion to varied translations, in turn reflecting the richness of the Chinese
sources. For ease of reading, those gardens most commonly referred to and/or
photographed are listed here:

Lan Yuan Garden of Enlightenment
Wangshi Yuan Master of the Nets Garden
Yu Yuan Garden of Happiness
Zhouzheng Yuan Garden of the Humble Administrator
Liu Yuan Lingering Garden
Shizilin Yuan Lion Grove Garden
Ou Yuan Coupleʼs Retreat Garden

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