一种形态二油画 1996

Xu Hongming’s oil painting is a field of worm-like shapes in brown-grey, flowing over a ground of white with the lightest blue horizon. I can imagine the artist making a single mark, and then another. The image evolves through incremental repetition, through a system of calligraphic marks. It’s not quite pointillism, but it has that same optical shimmering. Maybe the artist was thinking about camouflage, or cells under a microscope? The effect is hypnotic. The texture looks built up, a topography of paint creating a strangely tactile surface. This act of repetition, this dedication to mark-making, reminds me of Agnes Martin’s grids, or maybe the all-over compositions of someone like Joan Mitchell. It's a reminder that we painters are always looking, always borrowing, always building on what came before, as we try to make our own strange vision visible.