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Grand Synthesis: The Extraordinary Flower-Landscapes of Peng Kanglong

Past exhibition
16 September - 28 October 2023
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Peng Kanglong 彭康隆, Mountain Flower Romance 山花浪漫时, 2023

Peng Kanglong 彭康隆

Mountain Flower Romance 山花浪漫时, 2023
Ink and color on paper 纸本水墨设色
146 x 367 cm
57 1/2 x 144 1/2 in
Copyright The Artist
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If Glistening Dew could be described as a landscape composition concealed within a flower painting, then Mountain Flower Romance could conversely be described as a flower composition revealed within a...
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If Glistening Dew could be described as a landscape composition concealed within a flower painting, then Mountain Flower Romance could conversely be described as a flower composition revealed within a landscape.

As a floral drama, Mountain Flower Romance unfolds in three acts. Reading from left to right, Act I opens with a cascade of ink blossoms, starting with white peonies rendered in double outline and ending with hibiscus in both double outline and boneless forms. Act II, then, follows with a cascade of red blooms beginning at the top with warm red roses executed in double outline and ending at the bottom with cool pink and purple peonies rendered in boneless style. Act III, then, climaxes with a striking garden rock in the slender shape of a prunus vase festooned with vibrant pink, crimson, and orange-tinged magenta plum blossoms weaving their way through its open structure.

This entire floral composition unfolds in front of a grand vista from within a river gorge. Looking down upon an untamed river winding its way through the mountain gorge below us, the slope upon which we stand as well as the middle ground mountains before us are cast in shadow. The far side of the river gorge, in contrast, is bathed in sunlight. From this we discern that the sun is behind us but blocked from reaching us by the mountains that tower above (and behind) us.

From our vantage, we can see the river make its way through the mountains by following Peng Kanglong’s use of kongbai or “white space” either as mists rising in distant river valleys or water cascading down the descending steps of the gorge below. Following the river’s path from either its origin or its exit leads us to the visual crux of the painting: an almost vertical ridge which divides the mid-ground hills below us in shadow and the opposite slope across from us in sun. At the very spot where sun and shadow meet, Peng Kanglong leaves a patch of his composition mysteriously untouched.

It turns out that Peng Kanglong starts some of his compositions from the under layer of a previous painting! Splendid Flowers Valley, for example, started as the under layer for Ode to the Mighty Peak. This is precisely how one painting lends its compositional structure to another. Here, Mountain Flower Romance started as the under layer to Glistening Dew. The untouched area of Mountain Flower Romance, thus, reveals the starting condition of this under layer from Glistening Dew. By leaving it untouched, Peng Kanglong shares with us not just the origins of this particular work but the starting conditions more generally for his spontaneously unfolding artistic process.

如果说《白露烁烁》是一个隐藏在花卉画中的山水构图,那么《山花烂漫时》则恰恰相反,可以说是山水画中展开的花卉构图。

如果将《山花浪漫时》比作一部花的戏剧,那么故事分三幕展开。从左到右,第一幕以一串墨色花朵开场,以双钩白牡丹为始,双钩、没骨兼有的木槿为终。随后,第二幕以一串层叠而下的红色花朵开场,以顶部暖红色的双钩玫瑰为始,底部冷调粉与冷调紫的没骨牡丹为终。第三幕的高潮是一块极具视觉冲击力的太湖石,形状如梅瓶般纤细,饰以亮粉、深红和橙红色梅花,穿插在其镂空的孔洞之间。
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