Zhou Song

A Chinese painter cannot avoid confronting and interpreting the Classics. Whether we invoke them by heart or emulate them by hand, the information they impart to us is enormous. We always attempt to look through the traces and images on the surface for something more profound. Tradition, useful as a reference for our times, can inspire our reflections on the current state of things. There is no need to deny that our understanding of tradition is more or less a "misreading." The question should be whether the process of misreading, or the result of it, can take us to a new level of significance. Perhaps, at such a point, "misreading" has already become a considerably creative interpretation for our times . . .