Chen Rong, The Nine Dragons, handscroll, ink on paper

The Nine Dragons by Chen Rong, is a large ink on paper scroll influenced heavily by Daoist philosophy. By the artists admission in the poetry accompanying the work, Nine Dragons was painted wile Chen Rong was intoxicated. Indeed the rough work on the piece was reportedly done with the artists own hat dipped in ink, with the fine details done with a traditional calligrapher’s brush. The significance of the work in terms of artistic technique is in the increasable animation of the figures and landscape elements in the scroll. The waves and clouds seem more than just tangible, but in motion. Likewise, the dragons seem active and playful in a way not seen prior to this work. The scroll is also very significant in terms of the Daoist philosophy behind it. In China, the dragon is a personification of the energy of the universe or Dao. Daoist practitioners constantly strive to gain a realization of the Dao. The dragons are elusive, blending in and out of the clouds emulates the meditation experience, in which one strives to clear the mind of all thought, but as soon as a person realizes that they have attained this state, the very realization is a thought, which removes them from that state. Therefore, the state of non-thought is said to be like seeing a dragon, for as soon as one catches a faint glimpse, it disappears, perhaps to appear again unexpectedly for a brief moment, or perhaps never to be seen again. This is emulated superbly in the scroll as one views each scene.

Kyle Reicks, Art 259 Fall 2004