INK PAINTING

---

THE SEA IN THE SEA

Ink on Paper|

Click：6065

April, 2013. I was thinking about the plan of my solo exhibition in the Ring Exhibition Hall of the Gallery, China Academy of Art. Looking around, I imagined the sea levels I drew as horizontal lines unfolding one after another in this exhibition hall. Suddenly I had an illusion of the boundless huge waves gushing out towards me from every side, with a thunder of sound.

A year later, when I read the sentences written by Zhuangzi, “The Great of the South China Sea called Shu and, the Great of North Sea called Hu, and the central Great called Chaos”, which reminded me of the huge waves in the exhibition hall. It suddenly occurred to me that I have to transform myself from an observer of the ocean into a local. As a result, I tried to abandon the visual parts, using my body and mind to feel the invisible energy and serenity of the ocean. At the time of primeval chaos, I float in the vast mist, with the initial mind of me.

 

 

Tang Nannan

2016.03

The Sea In The Sea 55 Ink on Paper diameter 66.5cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 2 Ink on Paper 70×72cm 2014

The Sea In The Sea 7 Ink on Paper 132×85 2015

The Sea In The Sea 66 Ink on Paper 365×145cm 2015

海中有海 9 The Sea In The Sea 9 纸本水墨 Ink on Paper 143×63.4 2015

The Sea In The Sea 17 纸本水墨 Ink on Paper 直径41.5 2015

The Sea In The Sea 57 Ink on Paper 247×55cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 39 Ink on Paper 直径33.5cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 59 Ink on Paper 188×132cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 54 Ink on Paper 直径56.5cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 62 Ink on Paper 246×124cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 79 Ink on Paper  140x70cmx8 2016

The Sea In The Sea 50  Ink on Paper 50.5cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 64 Ink on Paper 365×145cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 65 Ink on Paper 350×145cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 67 Ink on Paper 74×39cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 68 Ink on Paper 74×39cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 69 Ink on Paper 64×63cm 2015

The Sea In The Sea 73 Ink on Paper 139×70cm 2016

The Sea In The Sea 74 Ink on Paper 115×70cm 2016

The Sea In The Sea 76 Ink on Paper 138×85cm 2016

The Sea In The Sea 80 Ink on Paper 240x145cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 81 Ink on Paper 70x140cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 83 Ink on Paper 62x64cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 84 Ink on Paper 74x39cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 85 Ink on Paper 39x74cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 88  Ink on Paper 184x82cm 2017

The Sea In The Sea 89 Ink on Paper 174x98cm 2017

Unknown Beach NO.8 Black and white film 85x70cm 2011

---

OBLIVIOUS OCEAN

Ink on Paper|

Click：6938

Compared with its calmness and clearness today, the surface of the ocean is dark and mysterious in memory, numerous monsters lurking beneath its surging tides. It was chaos without the existence of man, without any border between land and sea, even without land, allowing the water to travel to anywhere it pleased…

Recalling those scenes, I drew them down: the beast in the teenager’s mind of me, and the legends told by the old fishermen were all shining through in the paper, replaying the illusion in literation, and the castles in the air. I gradually grasped the essence of the Chinese landscape painting created by ancestors, with the waves and clouds interweaving, the emotion and mist permeating. The sea didn’t look like sea anymore, only to see the waves and mountain overlapping.

However, I still haven’t found the boundless ocean of my memory, which is the ocean before the appearance of man. Imagine the first human to see the ocean, where you may glimpse someone familiar walking towards you, but you are not able to distinguish his contour clearly-exactly like the fact that you are from the ocean but you know so little about it. You would ask yourself whether to return or not, for the surging waves of the forgetting sea didn’t make you want to pull into the shore.

TangNannan

2014.05

Oblivious Ocean 7 Ink on Paper 76×145cm×6 2013

Oblivious Ocean 8 Ink on Paper 79x74cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 12 Ink on Paper 91.8×74.5cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 20 Ink on Paper 75×145cm×4 2014

Oblivious Ocean 247 Ink on Paper 35×36cm 2015

Oblivious Ocean420 Ink on Paper 97×180cm×4 2017

Oblivious Ocean 37 Ink on Paper 75.3×144cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 42 Ink on Paper 58.6×93.5cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 45 Ink on Paper 71.8×46.4cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 82 Ink on Paper 47.2×62cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 131 Ink on Paper 62.6×37.2cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 132 Ink on Paper 59.4×30cm 2013

Oblivious Ocean 134 Ink on Paper 80.5×34.9cm 2011

Oblivious Ocean 190 Ink on Paper 96×178cm×5 2013

Oblivious Ocean 191 Ink on Paper 96×180cm×3 2014

遗忘之海 235 Oblivious Ocean 235 纸本水墨 Ink on Paper 114×68cm 2015

Oblivious Ocean 265 Ink on Paper 70×35cm 2015

Oblivious Ocean 272 Ink on Paper 100×97cm 2016

Oblivious Ocean 429 Ink on Paper 109×77cm 2017

Oblivious Ocean 430 Ink on Paper 245x124cm 2017

Oblivious Ocean 330 Ink on Paper 98×1180cm×4 2016

Oblivious Ocean 331 Ink on Paper 70×142cm×4 2016

Oblivious Ocean 333 Ink on Paper 89×156cm×5 2016

Oblivious Ocean 421 Ink on Paper 69×139cm×4 2017

Oblivious Ocean 422 Ink on Paper 69×139cm×4 2017

Oblivious Ocean 424 Ink on Paper 66×48cm 2017

---