Dialogue Through Time with Giuseppe
Castiglione

與朗世寧超時空對畫

定光琴小姐是一位充滿光和愛的當代潛意識藝術家，作品經常反映當代時事的正面契機和祝福。「與朗世寧超時空對畫」是定光琴小姐在2022-23年完成的創新。在2022年的某個偶然，定光琴在家翻閱一本清宮畫冊，那是前總統蔣中正贈與爺爺定中明教長(前外交官)的故宮典藏品 — 郎世寧繪製的《仙萼長春》。

畫中栩栩如生的精美花鳥除展現了郎世寧在中國傳統工筆畫的功底，也處處可見西方素描的痕跡。多年在國外生活的她，似乎找到與中華文化連接的切入點，激起了創作的動機。定光琴以傳統中國毛筆沾壓克力顏料，仔細臨摹畫冊裡的花卉枝葉，在點線白描過程中，彷彿進入冥想，跨越時空，走進大師的精氣神中，潛移默化。她以金色線條勾勒出花卉形體於墨綠色畫布上，猶如一幀幀黑白照片，映入內心。

畫布上朦朧的金色，秉承了她既往潛意識藝術中風格和穿越時空的抽象意義，有著解構下的金色花卉，一朵朵呈現在大小不一的獨立小品上，各自綻放，也相互呼應。在大面積的展示牆面上，這些小品被重新排列，形成新氣象，訴說各自情懷。

而在「荷花燕尾蝶』的作品中，角落色彩鮮艷的彩蝴蝶，振翅欲飛，為再次綻放的美麗，注入新契機。這輯作品一共有21幅。當中的10幅，已經被香港新鴻基地產在2022年購買了。定光琴的水墨創作「一束金光」於2019年在台灣羅芙奧拍賣公司以港幣71464成交。疫情後專注在較高端的藝術博覽會展覽，例如在2024年3月香港藝術週的 Art Central 和計劃在2024年年中的威尼斯展覽和2024年12月美國邁亞密藝術週展覽。

Tendrils materialize in gold paint against the darkness of a virescent canvas; there is no escape from the tenderness of an organic life recorded by the hands of an artist, where time emerges as an evocative yet porous entity that mirrors the delight often reserved for dream states. In Mediha Ting’s “Dialogue through Time with Giuseppe Castiglione,” the artist employs her distinct take on the subconscious mind through a thirteen-piece set depicting water lilies and butterflies. Inspired by Giuseppe Castiglione’s catalogue “Forever Springing Celestial Calyx,” this series honors the artist’s personal lineage and a cultural one, where Ting’s exploration began with the catalogue that was a diplomatic keepsake given by former President Chiang Kai-shek to Ting’s grandfather.

Through fine and atmospheric golden strokes, every rendering becomes successive degrees of homage and extension to the fusion of Gongbi and Renaissance techniques commenced by the imperial court of Qing emperors. Behind these luminous strokes lies Ting’s sagacious restoration of the first encounter of Chinese and Western painting techniques that Emperor Kang Xi sought in 1705 and awaited ten years until Castiglione arrived at the Forbidden City. Employing the uniquely contemporary medium, acrylic on canvas, Ting modernizes Castiglione’s innovation in Realism achieved through fusing the Western concave and convex method with the intricate contour lining affiliated with Gongbi. Such a previously unprecedented synthesis of the two modalities was espoused throughout Kang Xi and Emperor Yong Zheng’s reigns, where Castiglione's mastery so awarded his portraitures and flower paintings as better than any other in the eyes of Emperor Qian Long. As archived in “Forever Springing Celestial Calyx,” the technique resulted in sublime portrayals of foliage, flowers, and frolicking butterflies—an artistic leap facilitated by China’s natal globalization.

The thirteen canvases of “Dialogue through Time with Giuseppe Castiglione” are all but one completed in the style of Baimiao, a monochromatic drawing style that is as much the understructure of Gongbi paintings as it is an art form of its own. Instead of multicolored depictions of flowers following Castiglione’s Realism, Ting constructed liminal states via subtle gradations of golden lusters. Forgoing variegated illustrations, these meticulous floral renderings explore the in-between quality of tones—fusing Baimiao and Grisaille, a fundamental technique in oil painting that parallels Baimiao’s role in Gongbi. In this stylistic departure, the series graduated from Castiglione’s invention in Realism and joined Ting’s oeuvre in limning the human subconscious in today’s globalized milieu.

Resembling Globalization’s diasporic attribute, Ting’s artistic breakthrough was anchored in personal history. From paying tribute to “Forever Springing Celestial Calyx” to centering on rhythmic linear motifs found in arabesques—the art form associated with Renaissance and Islamic tradition—Ting offers an intrinsic insight into her Taiwanese, Uyghur Chinese identity that progressed in Western and Eastern upbringings. Creating the series nearly thirty years into her painting career, Ting stepped away from her acclaimed prowess in colors as she surveyed and built on Giuseppe Castiglione’s innovation from the last imperial dynasty of Chinese history.