Black & White & Color

Brown? Black!


Have you seen your pain?

Yes, I have.î

ìWhat does it look like?

A piece of stone.

A knife.

What color is it?

Black.

Brown.


Ten years ago, I was a reporter for the menís magazine Fashion. One day, I interviewed a music therapist who specializes in solving various psychological problems with the help of music. Dialogues similar to the one reproduced above happened again and again in his consulting room. Hypnotized by music, people burst into tears, wiped their tears away and used language that is close to stream of consciousness to relate their various deeply-held emotions.      


At the same time, via an interview, I got to know Zhu Wei, who was running his company at that time. Now he has given up business and become a pure painter, creating amazing paintings in my view.  


I know nothing about painting, not to mention abstract painting. However, I believe that art, no matter what kind, comes from the needs of artists to express themselves. And expression is the need of the soul. As a writer, I often feel the limitation and insufficiency of language. I always hold that there is a vast realm, a fathomless space and a confused feeling that is hard to express with concrete text symbols. Text symbols are like a handicapped man who cannot walk easily; or perhaps like a deaf man who can only speak with difficulty. Perhaps painting and music do better in describing the constant changes and secluded places of that world than words. And maybe it is easier for abstract painting to touch the summits and hidden parts of that world than painting.           


Those paintings that seem nonsensical are more than simple colors, lines and composition. You can consider them as the improvised dances of a certain soul. The soul behind the painting danced alone and left some tracks that look confusing, but they are actually full of unspeakable secrets. These tracks stand for joys, sorrow, unrestrained desires, and even anger...in order to see them, you have to shut down your rational mind open the eyes of your soul.    


Thus, it is something rare from oneís own soul to have a sincere talk with the soul behind a painting. For most people, it is just something about being a bystander.   


That day, in Mr. Zhu Weiís living room, a ìbystanderî, a middle-aged woman, said casually, ìAbstract painting is just something crazy and make believe.î The words made the crowd, including Mr. Zhu, burst into laugher. After the laughs, I thought Zhu so lucky: the craziness and affectation of most people can only be mocked by others, however Zhuís craziness is so beautiful and his affectation so sophisticated. What a happy thing it is!   


No wonder Zhu has determined to be a painter!