In “The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight into Beauty“, Soetsu Yanagi criticises modern artists for being overproud of their individualism. Yanagi’s belief was that the good artist or craftsman has no personal pride because in his soul he knows that any strength he shows is an evidence of that Other Power. In Yanagi’s words, one should ‘take heed of the humble; be what you are by birthright; there is no room for arrogance’.

Different from the star cult in America and generally in western countries, does the Japanese or Chinese Master places himself behind his work.

The personality of the artist should not be of any influence on his/her oeuvre. Time and the flow of things, which are not possible to be influenced by human beings, do play an important role in the mindset of traditional Chinese artists. The intention to determine all details by technique and freedom of expression does not exist as it does in the West in the mentality of the Chinese/Japanese Master.

This statement can provoke controversy, and especially in China, where the first generation of contemporary artists (in the 80s and early 90s) took strong influences from the West, the tendency to reconsider their own roots is visible in several artist’ positions.

In numerous exhibitions, at international art fairs and through reviews of well known art critics, Liang Shaoji received high recognition for his work focusing on the production and behaviour of silkworms. Over twenty years ago, Liang Shaoji decided, that silkworms should be the protagonists and the creators of his artistic work. The artist himself merely delivers the base to the small creatures and lets them follow their development in building their cocoons around the predetermined objects. The artistic practice of Liang Shaoji emphasizes the interaction between nature and human beings, the spatial-temporal changes in the process of art production and of biological meditation. His works are filled with a sense of meditation and philosophy while illustrating the inherent beauty of silk.

Being active and respected in today’s contemporary art scene, Liang Shaoji spans a bridge from the contemporary artist leading back to the traditional chinese master. He delivers the concept for the installations and then steps back and lets time and silkworms fulfill the artworks in a process which is only partly under the control of the artist.

Among the seemingly diverse oeuvre of Josef Ramaseder, the spore paintings of recent years underline the poetic nature of his working process. Paper or canvas are exposed to falling spore-dust from mushrooms the artists collects. Similar to the drifting of snow or sand (on a microscopical scale) the development of ghostly imaginery is left to the passing of time and to ever slight air movements during the process. By generating approximate set-ups Ramaseder promotes the mushroom to be the co-author alias ghost-painter of his works, taking a step back in the sense of Yanagi’s classical master.

Feng Lianghong came out of a group of Shanghai born artists who worked in abstract painting since the early 80s. The making of his works, can be compared with a dialogue between the artist and the canvas. It is a spontaneous dialogue with questions and answers or a conversation which can be taking its flow in a serious way, with beautiful poetic elements: a conversation between poets. Similar to what Gerhard Richter said “my paintings are smarter than me”, Feng Lianghong is not considering himself superior towards his works. Their reaction and the result on the canvas is every time an experiment, sometimes a surprise for him.

By scraping the layers of colour with a long latch, the artist himself can not decide which colour will finally be visible on the surface. A process that is being repeated for many times leaves many decisions and developments in his paintings to the hazard.

In Feng’s dialogue with his canvas, there are regular pauses for the drying time of the single layer of colour, the process of time takes its own role in the painting process. Feng Lianghong sees his work as a reflection of time and the inevitable change of things. The artist says that he has no method when painting. He is curious about the progress of the painting and clearly considers every method as a limitation. His aim during the work in the studio is to break away from limitations, in the sense of the Chinese saying “to free the mind”.

So, as Feng Lianghong does not rely on a predicted work flow, he brought these techniques of splashing, dripping and scratching into his work on purpose, producing results which cannot be controlled down to the last detail and so they become every time a positive or negative surprise for the artist. By having no method, random results became, especially since 2006, more and more important as parts of every painting, leading to non-planned consequences. Just as Liang Shaoji and Josef Ramaseder, Feng Lianghong delivers the material as a base for his works. The artist starts from a concept for the rough base of the work. The final result is related with time and influences from outside, which are out of control for the artist. The influence of the artist will only be effective when he considers the work to be completed.

The three artists from the exhibition in Times Art Museum do combine similar qualities of thought in a mysterious way. They focus on simple interplay between biological elements and on physical reactions. As alchemical dissent they are each one of them having his own approach, working totally different from each other.

While installation, objects and photography are relevant for Liang Shaoji, experimental development of the image corresponds for Josef Ramaseder. A dialogue with the canvas in abstract painting until drying stages of oil and acrylic colours is the point of departure for Feng Lianghong.

A group of 40 spore paintings by Josef Ramaseder will be shown for the first time in China. Though resulting from the simple process of falling spore-dust over the course of days, their final visual appearance is steered in such a way that poses the problem of reverse engineering to the viewer. What is it? How is it done? The spore colour of Sepia, the hair and some objects to identify may point even to a foto?

The spore paintings can be compared with the result of a time lapse, as the formation process of spore, falling from the mushrooms on the canvas over several weeks, becomes irreproducible for the viewer. Elements as airflow and temperatures are playing a role on the resulting image as well as the setup directly on the canvas, where the artist can decide to cover parts in order to keep them free of (coloured) spore.

Perceptional issues, an idiosyncratic focus on the materiality of the painting can be found in Ramaseder’s encaustic paintings as well. In his series of movie credit paintings, the artist is freezing a moment from the end of every movie, when people in the cinema usually are already getting up and leaving the theater. That very moment of familiar and mostly unknown names running down the screen is being eternized, a moment’s expression being wrapped in a complex technical realisation of his encaustic process. Several text works, such as “TOO MUCH INFORMATION” (160cm x 140cm, encaustic on viscose over canvas) are part of the exhibition at the Times Art Museum. Their surface shows waxy attributes, enlightening the aspect of time: Short dictums are sculpted, comprehending a compact thought of insight, similar to the spore paintings translated through an extensive process of realisation.

Ramaseder recently worked with Chinese characters. He used translations of text works which he did in the past to create their own Chinese versions.

Neither the white spore-dust nor the wax layer in his encaustic paintings contains any pigment. They only appear white because of their specific materiality which captures light. This gives his paintings - especially the series referring to film credits - a look as if they were just projections.

In the exhibition at Times Art Museum will be works from different periods by Liang Shaoji. Central in his oeuvre are the Nature Series No. 97, with installations by the title of “Chains” and “Planar Tunnel” of 145 and 175cm diameter. In “Snow cover” (2013-14) Liang Shaoji is combining daily objects, bringing them under the warm and elegant „cover” of silk. Through the progress of the silkworms, the objects in this work loose their sharpness.

Liang Shaoji delivers a concept comparable to a map for his silkworms to fulfill, which in the end, after several weeks of progress brings out a result. In his installations time can be retraced. By including the work process of silkworms, time and nature do form an important constant in the oeuvre of Liang Shaoji. The time process becomes a logical part in his works.

A similar process of „shortening time” can be observed in the paintings of Feng Lianghong. The process of reflection through the artist, which manifests itself during days and weeks of constant change until a painting is declared to be finished, is no more visible in the final result. Feng’s paintings manifest a spontaneous and complex moment of concentration, similar to Kirkegaard’s term “Augenblick” which denies
its duration of time.

Living respectively in Tiantai (Zhejiang Province), Beijing and Linz, Austria, the three artists of Alchemical Dissent are related through several aspects in their approach to work. The process of time in the implementation of different media is one of the most interesting dimensions among them. Bringing their work together in the exhibition in Times Art Museum Beijing shows many parallels and approaches of thoughts in eastern and western mentality.