Two Sides of Landscape in Ink-wash Painting: Chinese Landscape Painting in Expressive Arts Practice

Abstract

Chinese landscape painting does not pursue the accuracy of the subject's outer appearance, instead, it captures the energy, life force, and spirit beyond. The various styles of calligraphic lines are expressive and become a language to convey one's belief. The interwoven relationship between Chinese landscape painting and painter exhibits its compatibility with the practice of expressive art in some aspects. The high skill/high sensitivity required for Chinese landscape painting evokes a good awareness of oneself, it exercises the senses and opens up the imagination. The expressive calligraphic brushstrokes create a delicate world that echoes the inner state of the painter that will lead the way and reveal itself. Being immersed in the "landscape" in the painting enables people to remove themselves from daily life and channel themselves into another world. The sense of being insignificant in the face of the vast landscape teaches the viewer to surrender to what may come and to uncertainty.