Traditional Chinese portraiture is all about soul. To be more precise, it’s about chi-yun-sheng-tung, translation: “breath-resonance-life-motion.” Also known as “spirit resonance,” the painting principle is the most provocative of six legendary rules enshrined by a 6th century critic, Hsieh Ho (the others are more concrete, describing how to arrange images, and hold brushes). By Ho’s reckoning, portraitists had an almost divine calling: to see the life force vibrating inside their subject, and make us see it too.
Xiao Dai, 2013-2014. Mao Yan.
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Rohdewald’s repeated presence speaks to Yan’s priorities. He was picked not for the soulful curve of his nostrils, or compelling back story, according to the Pace website, but to widen Yan’s representation outside of immediate family and friends. The clinical nature of that choice might seem harsh, as if Yan is designing a college brochure and including a requisite number of “diverse” students. But then his subjects are his material. In this portraiture, the portraitist’s the thing.
