Lam Tung-pang

LAM TUNG-PANG, Past Continuous Tense, 2011, charcoal and pencil on plywood.

In Past Continuous Tense (2011), Lam Tung-pang uses unconventional media to tackle a seldom explored subject in Chinese ink painting: the forest fire. With charcoal on plywood, Lam depicts a forest blaze, with collapsing trees, by combining rubbing, erasure and burning to allude to humanity’s destruction of the natural environment. While the seasonal cycle of nature is a recurrent theme in traditional Chinese painting, the ruined landscape can symbolize war, human resilience to natural disaster and nature’s ability to regenerate. While refusing to be labeled a traditional artist, Lam references centuries old East Asian painting traditions, sourcing images of trees from Korean, Japanese and Chinese painting manuals dating from the 10th century to the present—to illustrate the ever relevant, equivocal relationship between humans and nature.

http://www.artasiapacific.com/Magazine/WebExclusives/VisionOfNatureLostFoundInAsianContemporaryArt

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