Rose Theater
Works of YANG Cheng wen
2010.05.08 - 30

□ Those Known and Unknown Things

Yang  Chengwen

I  watch  thrill  movies  a  lot.  The  feeling  of  being  sucked  into  a  particular  space  attracts  me  every  time.  I  like  going  deep  into  that  world  step  by  step  and  verify  my  guesses  or  get  lost  completely.  Through  these  spiritual  journeys,  I  gain  the  rejoicing  when  having  the  same  view  with  the  writer,  the  astonishment  of  unexpected  and  the  wonder  of  unknown.  The  human  nature  is  so  charming  to  me:  quiet  but  wild;  sweet  but  evil;kind  but  cruel;  looking  for  hope  in  the  darkness  but  corrupting  into  mist  in  the  brightness;  forget  the  eternal  vow  in  a  flash;  walk  toward  death  with  happiness…Like  an  angel  falls  from  heaven,  the  radiance  dissipates,  only  the  solid  ring  remains.  Is  it  sorrowful,  wonderful  or  even  both?  I  have  no  answer  but  guesses.
 
Years  ago,  I  went  to  a  small  town  in  Xinjiang  for  inspiration.One  day,  I  decided  to  put  down  my  brush  and  took  a  joy  walk  down  town.  There  are  ten  alleys  in  total,  alongside  each  starts  with  several  residential  buildings,  then  leads  to  rural  farmhouses  on  the  hill.  The  people  live  in  the  buildings  like  plant  flowers  on  their  balconies.  Walking  down  the  alley,  the  blacktop  blended  into  dirt  road  and  patches  of  corns  and  sunflowers  came  into  sight.  Before  I  knew  it,  the  madding  crowd  was  already  behind  me.  Then  I  saw  a  door  blocked  the  way  not  far  ahead.  I  thought  maybe  I  reached  the  end  of  the  road,  but  couldn 't  help  walking  even  closer  and  suddenly  a  new  path  which  was  narrower  than  one  meter  appeared  at  the  corner.  I  kept  walking  through  the  path,  and  the  dazzling  brightness  greeted  me  not  far  away.  Along  with  the  brightness  of  sunshine  was  a  vast  graveyard.  The  snow  white  tombstones  were  simple  but  beautiful.  Now  I  nearly  reached  the  top  of  the  hill,  still  clouds  were  hanging  above  the  horizon.  I  kept  climbing,  and  saw  a  China  Mobile  routing  tower  on  the  higher  crest.  I  should  thank  it  for  enable  us  to  contact  between  distant,  but  had  to  commit  that  its  appearance  has  no  sense  of  beauty  at  all.  Like  many  tombs,  the  tower  was  also  surrounded  by  bricks.  I  climbed  up  this  artificial  slope,  felt  getting  even  closer  to  the  sky.  The  view  here  was  fantastic,  I  decided  to  have  a  rest  here,  enjoyed  the  glorious  sunshine  and  soft  breeze.  Looking  back  at  the  houses  and  graveyard  just  passed  by,  I  was  moved  by  how  harmonious  they  are  with  the  nature.  Not  until  walking  down  the  slope  I  realized  the  slope  is  pretty  steep.  I  could  not  stop  and  started  to  run.  At  the  beginning,  I  was  scared  a  little,  but  then  I  burst  into  laugh  and  let  the  reasonless  happiness  drove  me  all  along  the  way  to  the  place  I  came.  The  sunflowers  were  so  dazzling  under  the  back  light,  with  the  heroic  spirit  and  blooming  like  gold.  That  picture  dissipated  into  dust  and  spread  out  in  my  thought.  This  moment  was  so  lively,  quiet  and  surprisingly  real.
 
Maybe  life  is  just  an  adventure,  a  process  of  searching  which  filled  with  emotion  and  doubts.  Maybe  we  are  searching  for  the  unlimited  possibility  in  the  limited  universe.  Maybe  we  are  searching  for  the  things  we  will  lost  eventually.  Maybe  we  are  searching  for  nothing,  but  just  can’t  stop.  Isn 't  painting  the  same  as  life?  It  shows  no  result  but  possibilities  enriched  with  emotion  and  space-time  and  even  the  inspirations  and  thoughts  of  these  possibilities.  On  that  golden  beach  lies  the  soft  quietness,  the  sorrowful  solitude,  the  memory  of  childhood,  the  sense  of  security,  and  more…  Those  poisonous  mushroom  and  deer  in  the  deep  forest  ,  they  both  have  spots  and  live  in  the  same  environment,  but  hold  completely  different  living  philosophy.  The  ferocious  shark  which  falls  in  flowering  shrubs  looks  sweet  but  will  be  suffocated  in  any  minute.  These  people,  plants,  animals  and  views  are  normal,  but  you  never  know  when  they  will  become  such  an  amazing  picture,  like  a  magic  cube,  constructs  thousands  of  possibilities  from  simple  patterns  and  colors.

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