一种形态二油画 1996

Xu Hongming made this painting, "一种形态二油画", with oil paint, and it’s a trip! Look at how each little blob is carefully placed, a real testament to the labor and the love of the process. The painting's surface is wonderfully textured. Each mark is made up of tiny dark nodules, separated by thin pale lines, that gives the painting a strange, organic feeling – like looking at seeds in the earth, or the surface of the brain. Up top, the blue fades into the pattern, like the sky is merging with the land. It's as though the artist is inviting us to slow down, to meditate on the small, repetitive motions of our own hands, whether we're painting, writing, or just fidgeting. This piece makes me think about Agnes Martin, but with way more stuff going on. It’s that idea of endless repetition, but here it’s cranked up to eleven. What does it all mean? Maybe that’s not the point. Maybe it’s just about seeing, feeling, and getting lost in the rhythm.