THE LANDSCAPE

OF THE SOUL
Nathalie Trouvero
Differnces between Chinese and
Western paintings
Chinese art
◦ There is no single viewpoint . One could start
viewing the art from any point .
◦ It does not contain any single meaning one
can interpret Chinese painting in its own way.
◦ The artist wants you to look into painting with
your heart and not mind in order to figure out
its true meaning.
◦ It focusses more on essence of spirituallife
Western art
◦ The painter wants / encourages you to look at
the painting through his eyes i.e how he wants
you to look at the painting.
◦ There are no hidden meanings the painting
seems relatively simpler but more colourfull
than Chinese painting.
◦ The artist wants you to look into painting with
your mind.
◦ It focusses more on illusionistic realism
Few concepts regarding Chinese art
◦ Yin and Yang ◦ Shanshui
◦ ‘Yang’ represents the mountain or the
vertical element which is stable, warm, dry
and masculine.
◦ Yin’ represents the water or the horizontal
element that is fluid, moist, cool and
feminine.
◦ The interaction of Yang and Yin is the
fundamental notion of Daoism.
◦ Shanshui literally means 'mountain water'
that represents 'landscape’.
◦ Mountain is Yang, that is stable, warm, dry
and reaches vertically towards the
heaven.
◦ While the water is Yin that is fluid, moist,
cool and horizontally resting on earth.
◦ Yang is masculine and Yin is the feminine
aspect of universal energy, reflecting the
fundamental notion of Daoism.
◦ The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut, "raw art" or "rough
art" a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet
focused particularly on art by those on the outside of the established art scene, using as examples psychiatric hospital patients
and children.

◦ Outsider art is art by self-taught or naïve art makers. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with
the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art
illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.

◦ One of the greatest contributor to the art brut was creation of Rock garden by Nek Chand.
◦ Nek Chand is the untutored genius who created a paradise years ago. The little patch of a jungle that he began clearing to
make himself a garden, sculpted with stone and recycled material is known to the world as the 'Rock Garden' at Chandigarh.
Nek Chand has taken the notion of raw art to dizzying heights. His art is, "an outstanding testimony of the difference a single
man can make when he lives his dream".