After Tradition

Freda Lee-McCann
Curated by Adah Rose Bitterbaum

Wednesday, May 24th through Saturday, June 17th, 2023

I have always painted Chinese landscapes. Sometimes I have introduced new elements into the classical paintings - stronger colors, adding collages of my own calligraphy and my paintings, or less traditional textures. Over time my landscapes have become less traditional, but still the classical landscape was there.

In this body of work, the landscapes are no longer the main focus, the collages are. The landscape starts at the middle ground, then recedes into the distance, while the collage is in the foreground. There is a transparent layer of written poetry between the landscape and the collage. The poetry is written in very light tone, not necessarily to be read by the viewers. This gives the landscape a feeling and a memory. The collage pieces are bolder than the landscape - they are abstract shapes from the calligraphy of a poem, often the characters are not recognizable.

The poem that ties all the paintings together was written by Zhu Yun-Ming a 16 th century poet during the Ming dynasty. He was a scholar and calligrapher, known for his ‘wild’ cursive script inspired by the Tang dynasty master Zhang Xu. I fell in love with his simple poem and wild calligraphy. Unlike the carefully executed and graceful characters of classical calligraphy, Zhang’s characters are written with thick and rounded brushstrokes that project an unrefined strength. The poem is simple, and says that in the fifth month of the year, he was alone in his modest home watching the petals of the cherry blossoms fall in the evening wind. It feels contemplative and introspective. I resonated with his sentiment, and loved his wild cursive script, and I appreciate the breaking with tradition.