Calligraphy

The mountains bring us closer to the clouds and farther from the roads.
They return to us the deep silence of the world, freeing us from the noise of humankind.
The wind moves through us, purifying us, sweeping away the dust
that settles upon us day after day.

The rock warms us with its ancient heat,
the wind refreshes us with its clear breath.
Our skin is imprinted with the texture of stone:
for a fleeting moment, flesh becomes stone,
sculpted by the infinite variations of its form.

Insects climb along our limbs as if we were extensions of the mountain,
a living, motionless part of the environment.
The leaves of trees tell us stories without words—
abstract narratives that reveal the emotions of the wind.

Birds sing in the background,
and we, attentive disciples, sit in silence.
We listen. We learn.

The great Teacher, with a thousand voices and a thousand forms, speaks to us.
From her, our creativity is born:
it comes to life and takes flight, light and free,
like a dreaming butterfly.

The desire and need to bring humans closer to and unite with nature has inevitably led to influence Chinese thought in general and thus also the conceptions related to technical and practical production in the field of art and in the formation of aesthetic thought. Being one with nature, the union both physical and mental, the immersion by human in the natural environment, the desire to express the life that flows in all things, their continuous variation in the life cycle, to show the invisible of the spirit and the life breath, has inevitably guided the evolution of painting techniques and the approach towards the subject to be painted, making the sense of sight a secondary perceptive tool, and one of the means of approaching the environment, but not the only one, let alone the main one. The same applies in the expressive and pictorial act that is not based on the representation of external form and appearances, manifesting external beauty. A very famous verse by Su Dongpo, which will be repeatedly quoted in later epochs, says:

Who discusses painting in terms of the resemblance of form, has a vision that approaches that of a child.

In a quick comparison with traditional Western painting, we see how the artist's mindset is almost diametrically opposed, in China, the Albertian idea of the world seen through a window, of the construction of the painting following linear perspective, is rejected, which just goes to reproduce the artist's optical and static perception, which therefore implies his external position, man looking and reproducing, taking, modifying, acting on the natural environment, without any kind of empathy towards it, to express himself, to improve, enrich himself, considering nature a passive element at the service of humanity. It goes without saying that this approach has led to the decay of the natural environment and to a temporary and fictitious prosperity of humans, who finds themselves in contemporary times reaping the bitter fruits of the exploitation of nature. In this very perspective, the painting of mountains and waters has a role of social and environmentalist critique, which is defined not as a negative and conflictual approach regarding our destructive activity toward nature, but as a positive and conciliatory critique that leads us to love nature, to empathize with it, and automatically to lead us to protect and safeguard nature by understanding its actual value, beauty, and importance in order to sustain our life, the sky, the earth, and the ten thousand things that flourish.

Harmony is the key concept, not just the harmony between man and the natural environment, but also harmony in the theoretical thinking that leads to a philosophical syncretism. Different approaches can cooperate in order to create a complex system to answer the common questions about the cosmos, how to relate with it and to know our place in it, in order to reach a higher level of existence that crosses the barrier of the physical and material world.

With a holistic vision of the cosmos, the man has to learn how to relate with the natural environment, without exploiting it or annihilating the human nature, acting with righteousness (yi 义 of the Confucian thinking) in order to improve the environment, but at the same time we need to understand the possible repercussion of our actions and follow the natural order of things (wuwei 无为 of the Daoism  thinking). This is possible just when the man treats nature as his own kind, with empathy, in harmony. 

The need for an alternative approach can be traced back to the desire to go against the leading Western mentality that considers anything 'external' or 'untranslated' within a system of languages and cultural references contiguous to it, as something anti-modern or a product of traditions that cannot be applied to the contemporary world and are often considered as material that is only good for historical studies that are  projected into the past, and its expression, only worthy of museum culture relegated essentially to academic circles far from the needs of the 21st century society.

These conceptions are the consequence of various factors. One above all, that of the arrogance of Western thought, which considers itself the only one capable of dealing with the contemporary reality and the only one that possesses the key to interpreting the globalised world, where the ease of exchanging goods and information gives the illusion of having all knowledge at one's fingertips, including that concerning different cultures.

This western-centric approach leads to ignorance. The superficiality and two-dimensionality of knowledge concerning other cultures, often not even really experienced, except in a 'postcard' dimension, precludes true knowledge.

This manner applies to many aspects of non-Western thoughts and societies, even in the artistic and humanistic sphere, which, even when studied, hardly ever leaves the confines of the academic culture. It remains crystallised and exposed as ancient relics for the use of specialists.

This view has made the modern West short-sighted and impervious to the possibility of enrichment through contact with different cultures. Very different was the situation in the past, where many cultural and technological advances arose precisely from contact with foreign populations.

Specifically, Western culture could benefit greatly from the knowledge of the aesthetic and philosophical theories that characterise Chinese art, which could (and should) be recognised as a source of new points of view regarding the interpretation of the world and of individuals. Perhaps it could be a possible opportunity to offer an 'external perspective', a further one, which could make Westerners more aware of who they are, of their limitations and also of their strengths.

Chinese thinking, as well as Western thinking, has benefited from the influence of external artistic expressions in the past. In the last century, it was precisely through contact with Western culture that a rich and fruitful dialogue was established in Chinese culture. This was due to the fact that the Chinese and Western systems are vastly different. What is tradition for China is often innovation in the West and vice versa. Why, then, deprive ourselves of the opportunity for a new and innovative point of view?

An inclusive approach is typical of Chinese intellectuals, who are aimed at the search for harmony both on a practical and theoretical level, tending towards philosophical syncretism, attempting to create a united and non-conflicting thought or thoughts, that are not fragmented and tending towards opposition as it often happens in the West. The possibility of unifying thoughts does not lead to a cultural levelling, but gives the individual the freedom to draw on all the different theoretical and philosophical expressions, grasping the elements most in line with their own world-view and developing them in order to create their own idea and interpretation of reality, as a famous saying goes, "the other mountain’s stone can polish jade". 

Thanks to this knowledge it will be possible to burst our evolution at a 'humanistic' and spiritual level through humanitarian and ecological values as they represent the basic need of human beings, which is to be able to coexist and thrive amongst each other and the environment in which we live, generating a sense of empathy towards humans and the natural world. 

The man overwhelmed by appearances, 

recognizes itself only in the eyes of others 

or on the flat surface of the mirror.

The soul is gone, it no longer exists

only a dead empty shell remains. 

Without direction he no longer wants to choose the future 

following objectives written inside boxes of chocolates,

along the straight road that everyone follows, 

head down or head held high, unable to look ahead.

The arrogance of homo capitalisticus 

is able to overcome all borders, 

It’s the only bargaining chip 

accepted every corner of the world 

turned into a market square, 

crowded with strangers who talk to themselves, 

leaving only a trace of waste rotting in the night 

exhaling the scent of their happiness. 

The spirit of human who escaped from nature

has become a machine powered by 

vanity and by the will to overwhelm, 

that no longer allows us to look at the horizon, 

but recognize only the images reflected by 

the inner mirror opaqued by blind and 

unsatisfactory desire. 

We stand against a single world view, when in fact there are many.

The one that does not support diversity, but translates them. 

one that does not make them participate in the 

debate with their own voices, but accepts them 

only after a trial of metamorphosis. 

We are against the imperialism of tastes 

and customs, of judgment, of means of expression

and of what to express, 

a situation which inevitably leads to a cultural flattening.

In this global village without borders

we dance to the beat of superficiality

sloppy culture and cultural arrogance

where ignorance is adorned with 

two dimensional images

where the concept of knowing not to know

has been abolished

although without knowing

The inhabitants of the village ignore what is found outside of it 

not by choice but by condition

not out of lack of curiosity

but because of the limited means

the village is truly global on a physical level

it truly embraces almost the entire earth surface

but in fact it remains on the surface 

it does not deepen and if it deepens it does

in its own way as it would in the centre from which it developed

Ink on Xuan paper, 40x40, 2023