Universal Painting is a concept for a painting exhibition that has grown out of a concern for formal visual issues that have their roots in our knowledge of cave painting like Chavet, until modern twentieth century modern masters such as Mondrian. These issues transcend historical cultural issues and allow us to find a bridge that connects the divergent interests of the many varied points of view that come together in a visual tradition that continues to evolve and bring understanding to everyday life. We have learned how to function in our modern, technical, social culture, but we have difficulty understanding it. We appreciate art, but are not sure what function it should provide us. Painting in the west is often described as dead only to be reborn. And the measure for quality in painting is so unclear that anything is considered acceptable and it's value judged only by its success in the marketplace. 

The first truth that we painters face is the reality that there is not enough time and place for everyone in the world to literally see the 'original' works that we create. Most people will only have the possibility to 'see' a reproduction of these images and yet we pride ourselves in the unique medium that is the vehicle for us to achieve our particular image and the resulting unique object. Original is very important for us and yet it makes our work limited in its public visibility. Our ideas are imbedded in the physicality of the painting. 

When we look at a painting, we see both the image (picture) and the object. At various historical times we emphasize these two components differently. Ideally the image and object should be harmonious. The surface of the painting, should in some way lead us into the spatial feeling that the final image realizes. A painting should be a flat object and at the same time suggest a particular spatial experience. This is a contradiction, and why painting is always fascinating. It is also an obvious truth that life cannot exist without death, a logic that we can never understand, only accept. These are universal truths. They are true for everybody. This exhibition shows painting that tries to deal with various universal truths. One, that painting is flat. Two, that it is static. What one sees in the first moment is the same always, only our understanding changes. Three, that it is made in duration; in real time, but seen in static time. Four, that it is a flat material object (sheet of paper, or canvas), in which we see something that we call and image or picture, that is always spatial or at least suggesting space. And last, we always find meaning in this image, even if the meaning is that it has no meaning. These are some principles of the formal concerns of the artists included in the exhibition Universal Painting. I have not spoken at all about the emotional considerations of the formal concerns, nor the historical and social contexts.

We are a group of painters of various ages and nationalities. We represent the future, in that we have found a common language that transcends our differences and focuses on what we see as universal principles. We find expression of the universal truths through visual means exclusively. We do not illustrate. We do not explain. We do not offer exclusivity. Our work is accessible to everyone simply through looking. Even if at first the viewer has difficulty understanding the work, he or she does not need outside information to understand it ultimately. The work seeks to be timely and timeless,  the most difficult task of any art endeavor. Our work is of varied quality because it is so human. And yet we have high aims that try to elevate our human concerns. We are spiritual but not religious. We do not entertain.

We are all color painters. This grows out of the tradition from Titian, Cezanne, and Mondrian. One could also speak of Kandinsky, who when he lived in Munich is credited with making the first abstract painting in the western tradition. Munich is an ideal landscape where color plays an important role in the light. Color is the visual material that allows us to create a space that allows the light to enter through the picture plane.  We do not use color symbolically or as representation of ideas. Light is the interplay between warm and cool colors. And the space that this light fills is not a Renaissance space but an implied void that is connected to surface articulation. The skin (surface) and the insides (image, spacial order) of the painting must have a profound connection. It is like the face, expression, and actions of a person must reflect the inner character.  Paintings are like life dramas, even if they are static images. That is why we can look at a Cezanne landscape our whole life and discover something new every time. The painting reveals more about the process of it's creation, than about a specific landscape. In Munich you can often see the suggestion of blue next to pink in the atmosphere.  It is simply the division of white light when it passes over the Alps.

Germany is the home of Heidegger. His profound investigation into the question of what it means to be a human being and his concept of presence, is relevant for us. Our self awareness, our recognition of the object, respect for the viewer, and subsequent role of time in the existing image, makes 'presence' the ultimate aim of our work. The painting should make the viewer aware ultimately of being aware. That this moment is the only real moment and that the past and the future only take us away from the now. We use visual images to come to this moment. These ideas deserve more discussion and consideration and I only want to say that the Chinese culture has a historically long mirrored interest in this or these ideas.  (Jerry Zeniuk from the Munich Art Academy)

Related story:
An exhibition titled "Universal Painting - Contemporary abstract painting from Munich" will be held in Guangdong Museum of Art (GDMoA), Guangzhou from March 31 to till April 17, source with German Consulate in Guangzhou releases Monday (March 14th).

The event, co-organized by the consulate and GDMoA, is participated by artists from China, Germany, Bosnia, Iran, Ukraine and the USA.

On April 1 there will be a lecture given by Jerry Zeniuk from the Munich Art Academy.
 
Venue: Guandong Museum of Art (GDMoA), Ersha Dao, Guangzhou
Time: March 31 - April 17, 2005
Opening exhibition: March 31, 2005, 3:00 pm
Press conference: March 31, 2005, 2:00 pm (GDMoA)

(Source: German Consulate in Guangzhou )

Editor: Catherine

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