Recently, I was surprised by Tong＊s new oil paintings! These works are executed in a new manner and Tong expresses his feeling and understanding on the value and meaning of everyday life - an unusual visual device to show the spirit of human being, or things related to them. So, how should we look at the novelty in Tong's paintings? I think that the novelty originates from the painter's modern thinking, and from his interdisciplinary participation (design, ceramic, installation).
Tong's oil paintings are reflections of the cultural phenomena, but he adopts a different method than the other painters. Such working method allows plenty of space for imagination - this is a characteristic of modern female spirit in the metropolitan. From this, we can know that art work is not only a style, but a reflection of the truth hidden in style and reality. It is a kind of statement bases on humanity, that is, a statement that bases on the relationship between art work and real life.
In his oil painting series, Tong no longer adopts the grandiose manner, but is interested in showing the state of mind of human beings and their subtle or intimate relationships. Obviously, this kind of visual language directly reflects the painter's vision, which brings out the relationship between human being and the various conditions of living. In fact, Tong does not attempt to express a specific intention in his oil paintings, but to use images in grey tone as a vehicle of showing the complexity of social relationship - on the bodies, one finds the desire for material, love and sex. They fully demonstrate his understanding of reality that is hidden in style and form. His oil paintings depict an individual with others in uncertain relationship, or to place them under the same environment, to establish an interaction between the painter＊s personal view and the objective view of the other.
The painter adopts the device from anthropology and contacts people of different sectors as an outsider. This is a survey in the artistic sociology.
Tong finds that the format of simplicity fits perfectly the language of modern painting: an integration of the traditional and the modern, of the language and the context - it borrows the traditional element and absorbs the desire of "voyeurism" in modern world. Tong's works are a linkage to the diversified society. Indeed, our visions are guided to the real situation through the painter's perception.
In the series of painting, Tong expresses figures and environments that are familiar to him. For instance, female figures, male figures, flowers, and objects. Comparing to his previous paintings, Tong's oil painting series manifest a stronger sense of modern art. He bravely borrows certain new idea to capture the instant, and record the details of life. Though Tong's works maintain certain composition of his earlier paintings, his works have already adopted a modern language that differs from the traditional. The pretty women in Tong＊s painting sit or stand in an atmosphere of leisure, almost to a point of boredom. This enchanting air that surrounds the images impresses viewers to the artist＊s sensitivity.
Tong considers art as a direct media for expression, he believes that the ultimate question of art is on "human" himself, the passion, thought of human being. His grey tone brushworks manifest his experience and instinct, which is a reflection of the painting language and psychological state of human. Tong is not interested in the fashionable artistic style, rather, he selects the artistic devices from his own judgment and need. He does not handle concept and skill in a rational manner of grey tone, but his sensation is the dominant in his painting due to the fact that rationality will lead to rigidity, but sensation can bring spontaneity, freedom and ingeniousness.
Through extracting and purifying, Tong＊s paintings are converted to a new style. Form and content are undoubtedly allegories of leisure and happy life.
He is bold enough to refuse logical thing, he does not conform to the principle that all things should be recognizable in art. Things can be imaginative, randomly organized, edited and created in his perception. His works show the differences in class, space, reality; and the concepts and contents of these things are not steady. Tong re-edits all these things in daily life subjectively and displays to us through the relaxed grey tone.
It can be said that grey face is the most outstanding feature of a human being in showing identity, and is also a feature that reflects the difference between people. Any subtle facial expression - Delight, angry, sorrow, happy are reflections of inner emotion, there can be kind and friendly expression, and there are also disguise, concealment, calculation, cunning, hypocrisy. Therefore, by showing the different kind of desire of human, these works explore the coding controlled by society. In these paintings, the painter does not refute himself, nor to refute identity, but to get rid of all logics in the perception of art and to set up the relationship between the "self" and "the other". This relationship reveals the contrast of the uniqueness of daily life and schizophrenia in the changing society of China.
The purpose of Tong's works is a criticism to the change of the inner mind of people. Like the eyes of a human, Tong's oil paintings continuously explore the characteristics of different female and the other. He acts like an anthropologist by entering into the social space where many other painters do not see. He re-organizes the social images. His works define the social space. His paintings show not only the difference in identity, but also criticize how people are differentiated by society. The painter needs to release his subjectivity, but needs also to take part in the social space of the other. From these he can feel directly the anxiety and pressure of the other in different social situation. Therefore, Tong's works express the anxiety of people under social space and daily living. That is also the reason I like Tong's works.
(Currently based in Beijing, Dr. Huang Duo is an internationally famous curator and art critic. Huang has participated in various contemporary art shows in and outside China, including "The 26th Biennale Sao Paolo in 2004 - China Gallery", "The 25th Biennale Venice in 2003 - China Gallery", "The 2nd Seoul New Media Biennale in 2002" and so on. His articles were published in Reading, Today's Pioneer, Art in Asia Pacific, and many other international contemporary art shows catalogues.)
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