East and West 2

#77001     72″ X 50″     ac

• Japan: Peacock (Kujaku-myoo), vertical small scroll, Heian period (791-1155) first half of 12th century. One of the Japanese national treasures, National Museum of Tokyo.
• Time: Photograph of Dancer-choreographer Merce Cunningham.
• Robert Rauschenberg: Retroactive, oil and silkscreen on canvas. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford.

In Chen’s iconographical analysis of cultural symbols, the cross represents the post-Renaissance West. In part this is the cross of the crucifixion: a symbol of man’s grace to transcend any limits of time and space. Even more it is the cross of analytical geometry: mathematics, statistics, technology. From a zero point, achievement is cumulative.Technology constantly expands by one new block being laid upon another, like courses of brick. Symbol of the East is the circle – its recycling, its closed, escape-proof universe, its ambiguity. There is a deviousness to thought. Neither the sage nor the merchant goes directly to the point. There is no mathematical basis for philosophy and no zero point.

Numbers are not a 1 + 1 + 1… series, but magical symbols.
Chen says the East – represented here by a Japanese Buddha – will always seek its inward self; the West – the grid, the astronaut, the dancer – will go outside and fly and jump. One culture is enclosed; the other races with all its engines whining. The Peacock-King Buddha is a protector of law and represents a God of goodwill who can halt natural calamities in their tracks.

The Buddha representation abounds with symbols. The four arms demonstrate the multiple powers of deity. an object is held in each hand: a lotus flower, orange, red pomegranate, and atomic molecule. The pomegranate is an emblem of fertility. The atom suggests innumerable chemistry books. It is also a reminder of the Atomium of the Brussels World’s Fair of 1958 and the Fair’s theme of human universality.

The horizontal wavelike line, which is essential to the composition, represents electric-like spiritual power. Chen has liberally adapted the figure to his own esthetic purposes.

Originally there was a peacock figure underfoot, and this has been suppressed. The five white geometric shapes at the circumference and hub of the circle are intended to break up the static repose of the Buddha and send the wheel spinning. The body has been changed from gold to blue, the blue, violet, and small amounts of yellow and red being Japanese colors. Mount Fuji, of course, is a revered Japanese icon. It stands at the beginning of heaven and earth, its symmetrical cone suggesting esthetic purity. The other peak is Jade Mountain from Chen’s native Formosa.

-Lawrance Jeppson