Chai Yiming

“Journey to the West, Nos 1 and 2,” ink on paper, 161 x 35 cm, 2009

The name of the work is “Journey to the West,” but could equally be called “Fairy Dream,” because there are so many images. I draw daydreams, the kind of dreams that happen when your eyes are open.

One of my intentions in painting is to bring new ideas to the audience. I only provide ideas, and leave the rest to the audience. At the beginning, I have no idea how a painting will turn out, as the way I paint is very adventurous and random. The shapes I paint lend themselves to various different associations. To some extent, what I paint is like ukiyo-e, which encompasses a wide variety of subject matter. Some of the characters in the paintings are transparent people, who find themselves within various forms of time travel.

Chinese paintings are not “viewed” but rather “read,” like reading a book. My works need to be read closely otherwise they seem chaotic. Some elements in the picture are employed to confuse the audience. I want those viewing my works to enter into the painting — to take part in the game.
I paint in a state of chaos, combining Western and Eastern religious elements of time and space, the present and past. West and East are interwoven.

My works begin at one point and meander in different directions. The human brain is always a mess,especially in modern society. We are have an urge to see a movie, and then later I want to go eat French fries. My works reflect myself, a chaotic person.

My work blends together a variety of techniques: coarse and fine brushwork, double hook calligraphy, straight lines and scattered lines and painting without an outline. Usually people do not combine so many different techniques. Qi Baishi used to paint green vegetables and worms, rendering the former with a big swath of color, and painting the latter in a delicate way. However he only combines two types of painting styles in a realistic fashion. My works are mixed.
My compositions are very casual, giving them a feeling of free expansion. At first a painting appears abnormal, before I coax it to slowly return to being normal. This is not unlike some people who look normal, but expose their true temperament when they start to talk. I just disguise my painting in a cloak of normalcy.

While I paint, I often change the direction of the paper in the aim of convenience, and never use a fixed mode of thinking. I prefer an open working method, as a fixed method would be boring.
I create the works in two steps. First, I draw on a large piece of paper, then I cut up the painting, put the pieces back together and reorganize it. After a while, when I’m inspired, I come back to the paintings and work on them again.