INTERVIEW WITH LI TIANBING

Paris, February 2006

(DZ : Deborah Zafman  TL : Li  Tianbing)

DZ :

I feel that your paintings are impersonal and I don't seem able to find 'you' in the work. Are you proposing an alternative to the traditional western notion of the self as a fixed and defined identity ?

TL :

In Eastern philosophy, especially Buddhism, the insistence on the self is an obstacle which one must transcend in order to be in harmony with the cosmos, to be in rhythm with the cosmic life force. In the universe, instability prevails - wu chang (without fixed form), things are in a constant state of flux, in life there are cycles, ups and downs, and we never rest in any one place along these cycles. If we understand and accept this inherent instabilty then we would suffer less. This way of thinking has influenced the Chinese and their way of seeing things. So in my painting, I reject the notion of a single 'me' just as I reject the notion of a single style. The self is always changing and I deliberately am changing styles.

DZ :

So you consider the changing of painting styles as a way of opening up painting’s possibilities?

TL :

Painting is by its very nature limited when we compare it to technological innovations such as video, digital imagery, etc. where at the touch of a button we can rewind and erase without leaving any trace. And we can try out infinite possibilites, saving or storing on the hard drive as many images as we want while trying out other possibilities. But with painting, once we've applied paint to canvas, there's no going back. You've made one decision from an infinite number of other possibilities.  That is where painting can be considered a limited medium.So for me, insisting on one style would only mean limiting painting more. But by always experimenting with different styles, I realize that as soon as I abandon one style, a whole world of other possible styles are available to me.

DZ : I’m interested in how the relationship between style and the self play out in what you are doing. It seems you intentionally paint in multiple styles as a way to free yourself from being categorized as possessing a style that is particularly you ?

T.L : Yes and it is also a way for me to avoid boredom.. Once a style or technique has been mastered, I don’t want to stay with that, I want to move on to experiment with something new. Once I feel I’ve mastered a techhnique which is when I reach the point where I don’t believe I can do better than that, then I prefer to try something new.

DZ :

So how do you negotiate the self while you paint ?

TL :

It means not to be affected by one’s self because that self is always changing. The self is in a constant state of mutation so there is no point in insisting on the self since one’s identity is always in flux.

DZ :

When speaking of style, the Western view is that an artist has a style that is particular to his ‘true identity’ = that it is a quality we can detect in the work and which is unique to his personality. With your work, viewers can be suspicious and wonder « Who is Bing and where is he in his work ? Does he hide, does he really put himself in it ? I think this is the difference between Easterna nd Western notions of the self. I consider your paintings to be beyond a personal self which brings me back to my claim that your paintings are impersonal.

TL :

I’m influenced by the Taoists and Eastern philosophy

We say when one steps into the river, it is never the same river. Who I am today is not the same self as yesterday and in three years. I will be another self. We always want to run after something stable or fixed but that is not possible because everything is in a constant state of mutation and the people who insist on grasping something fixed are always surprised by my painting. One can’t paint the same way as one did ten years ago.

Painting requires us to explore possibilities. It is easy to find and master one style or Way of painting, but when we deliberately choose to abandon one style, it places us face to face with thousands of better possibilities and thousands of beauties to explore. For a painter to paint in the same way all the time is a total waste and shame. I think in today’s world we should reject the logic that arose out of modernism – the insistence that style is a reflection of the artist’s self and that style must be original and different from others.

DZ :

You seem acutely aware of the historical context in which you are working. How would you describe your attitude about our time and the role it plays in your work ?

TL :

We are inundated with so much visual information through technology. I think everything moves much more rapidly than before and so this increased velocity also applies to our identities which are also changing at this more rapid pace. With the bombardment of images in daily life – internet, film, video games, digitial photography, publicity, with their visible and invisible influence, how can we possibly hold to the same way of seeing the world without evolving ? This would mean closing oneself up.

DZ :

How do you see your painting as having evolved ?

TL :

I used to like to connect my painting to a concept and be able to explain what my painting was saying. But over time, I started to find the notion of ‘concept’ in painting funny and passé. I think today we should replace concept with something like feeling or experience. One should feel art rather than explain art. I can’t stand the way we see little textual explanations beside a work of art at museums exhibitions. When one stands before a work of art (whether it be installation, photography, video or painting), the most important thing is to feel, it is a new visual and mental experience that might change our way of seeing the world. This is what should be the criteria for judging contemporary artworks. The advantage art has is that it is capable of constructing an atmosphere, offering a new experience. This requires talent.  Anyone can learn to make art with a concept, analyze the means, one can learn this even quickly but one can never learn to have an original sensibility and deep sensitivity. What interests me about your way of seeing painting is that it displasy a great sensitivity and ability to feel painting. This also requires talent, to be able to plunge deeply into a painting and to go ever further.

DZ :

How would you describe the difference between concept and sensibility or feeling ?

TL :

Concept is like an island and sensibility is the ocean that surrounds it. Now is the

moment to leave the island and swim in the ocean of experience.

DZ :

How does this translate into the way you approach painting ?

TL ;

In the process of making a painting, it is not to define who I am but to look at what I might become. One begins searching without analyzing what one has found. I do not like to preplan paintings.

DZ :

You mean that painting always places you before the unknown or unpredictable ?

TL :

Exactly. With painting, every instant is unpredictable. You never know what is going to happen because with each brush stroke, everything is changed and then at the next moment, wtih the next bruthstroke, everything has changed again. And when I paint I never know what it is going to be before. It is in a constant state of development as I paint. What I paint in each moment is determined by what I had just painted before. And this is what is so exciting about painting and this is why I chose the path of painting. It is the only medium that gives you this particular kind of pleausre. I want the people who see my paitings to feel the joy and pleasure that I feel from painting. It is important for me to transmit this joy and pleasure.