Illustration Québec - Dali WU - Night Tour: the unlimited Local Landscapes

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Night Tour: the unlimited Local Landscapes

Night_tour_the unlimited local landscapes_Dali WU_2020827

Description

Painting on wood.
Mixed media: oil paint, watercolour, resin, plaster, glass, gold and silver leaf, gold and silver powder
59 X 72.5 cm. 2020
In the heavens, we vow to be as two birds flying wingtip to wingtip,

On earth, we vow to be as two intertwined branches of a tree.

— Song of Everlasting Regret, by poet Bai Juyi

Over the Nu River Grand Canyon, a pair of birds in white and black forms the shape of infinite. They are legendary bird(s), the “biyi bird” (比翼鸟 biyi niao, birds flying wing to wing) — The biyi bird is a one-eyed, one-winged mythical creature in which each entity is half of a bird, such that only when a male and female pair up and fly together, can they become a whole bird. It later become a metaphor for a loving couple. There are many interpretations on this legendary bird(s), one of Bai juyi the Fairy Poet’s most well-known works “长恨歌 Chang hen ge”（Song of Everlasting Regret), illustrates the immortal love story between Emperor Minghuang of Tang and his Imperial Consort Yang, making reference to this legendary bird(s) within four parts: Falling in Love, The Inseparable Couple, Farewell to Lover, and finally Reunification in Fairyland.

According to legend, there are still flying bird people on both sides of the Nu River Grand Canyon. For these mysterious villagers, their lives are heaven-like and they lead an ideal existence in harmony with nature. As they live remotely outside from the world, that’s why they can fly, also find and join the legendary biyi bird. The wonderful sound of Kalaviṅka descends from the sky where the sun and the moon shine together. Their marvellous sound from heaven passes through the biyi bird, and flows into a turbulent Nujiang on the ground.

Originally used as a metaphor for loving couples, the biyi bird is drawn as the form of Jīvajīvaka. The white bird looks toward the sun and the moon, and the black bird is drawn into the chain of twelve Nidanas which is intertwined with the white bird. The texture under the white bird is outlined by plaster, and its modelling takes into account the local characteristics of Yunnan cloth patterns. The white bird’s cloud-like chiffon skirt has been drawn as wedding dress.

The fable on Jīvajīvaka is returned primarily on Vinayavastu of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. in the Nirvana Sutra is called 命命鸟 mingming niao, in the Pravara-deva-raja-pariprccha Sutra is called 生生鸟 shengsheng niao, in the Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra and the Miscellaneous Treasures Sutra is called 共命鸟 gongming niao. The Jīvajīvaka fable is related to an entanglement of Dharma(the order that makes life and universe possible) and Adharma(disharmony, unnaturalness) life after life.

The fable says that Jīvajīvaka bird has one body and two heads, one is called Dharma, and the other is called Adharma. One day, while the latter was asleep, Dharma saw a tasty-looking fruit and ate it, considering that, as their body was the same, it would be nourishing for both of them. When Adharma awoke, he smelt something good and criticized Dharma for eating by himself. Later, when Dharma was asleep, Adharma ate a poisonous fruit and thus, both of them died. On the verge of death, Adharma swore to harm Dharma in every future live, while Dharma wished to be his good friend forever.

The inner landscape – the eternal perplexity within the human’s psyche, and the real key to the self-liberation are represented fully in this Jīvajīvaka fable.

——————-

Afterword

This work was is inspired from a very beautiful and moving story on the biyi bird legend. It is also related to the pursuit for our lost soul under modernity. Marriage in this work, is regarded as a symbol of harmony, and the ideal/belief which allows people to fly. But I wish to give a deeper meaning and richer pictoriality on “marriage” and love. For example, in addition to the union between lovers, marriage is also on the combination of “come”(the Nu River descending from the sky) and “go” (the flying bird people), of sun and moon, of sky (the immortal Kalaviṅka) and earth (the flying villagers), and I chose the Jīvajīvaka legend of buddhist fables as extension. I remembrer a dream that I had during the working process of this painting: the black bird and the white bird are entangled life after life, they win upon each other alternatively. In the end, the white bird finally swallows wholly the black bird, and the entire sky is filled with the white bird. Meanwhile the voice-over sounds: You have to repent completely! After waking up I meditated on this dream for a while. As in this work, I deliberately highlight the white bird and weaken the black bird. It is probably the embodiment of my actual mental state which is still not enough strong to maintain the equanimity?

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