Art explores transcendent relationship with nature

LENOX, Massachusetts — In a wooded corner of Eastover Estate & Eco-Village, a dozen scrolls, each measuring 3 meters in height and 1 meter in width, sway quietly in the summer breeze, visibly transformed by rain, sunlight and time since they were hung one year ago.

The scrolls were painted on rice paper, affixed to durable nonwoven fabric, and then framed and suspended between trees in a Massachusetts forest in the United States.

This is the closing chapter of the Solar Terms: Contemporary Ink Art Event, an outdoor exhibition that opened on July 27, 2024, and will end on July 26. It features works by four leading contemporary Chinese ink painters — Lan Zhenghui, Li Gang, Qin Feng and Zhang Zhaohui — each of whom explores abstraction and expressive brushwork while remaining grounded in the literati tradition.

The works for this project were never about preservation, but about nature. "In traditional Asian art," said Richard Vine, art critic and former managing editor of Art in America, at the opening ceremony, "we often depict fragility — cherry blossoms, wilting flowers — to suggest something lasting, transcendent. Here, it's reversed. The art itself is fleeting. It's being altered, or destroyed, by nature. That's the point."

Some scrolls have faded; others bear the marks of rain or tearing wind; a few have disappeared entirely. But for returning visitors, these changes only deepen the meaning.

"It reminds me of a famous oil painting by a Chinese artist titled My Father, with an elderly man whose face is etched with deep, unmistakable wrinkles," says Lan, one of the featured artists.

"These weathered scrolls feel the same; like a once-handsome young man who has grown old, marked by time."

Artist and local curator Shany Porras, who revisited the site on June 28, reflects on the shift.

"It's no longer just about viewing the art; it's about sensing its relationship with the world around it," she says.

"The first time I saw it, I was struck by the beauty of how the art of humans and the art of nature live together. These pieces get to experience what the trees experience. There's a quiet symbiosis. It made me feel small, in a beautiful way."

Though grounded in traditional materials and techniques, the exhibition reflects a contemporary ink movement that is boldly experimental. Lan, known for his visceral, large-scale works, speaks of continuity through reinvention: "You must learn from the ancestors, but then you must ignite something new."

Curators Zhang Pingjie and Xu Yufu envisioned Solar Terms not as a static display but as a process of collaboration between artist and environment, East and West, ink and weather.

"We're not discarding tradition," Zhang Pingjie says. "We're extending it, fusing brush and abstraction, philosophy and ecology."

Xu adds: "Only after living abroad long enough can one truly confront the depth of one's native culture — and feel the urge to respond. That's where dialogue begins."

The site choice was deliberate. Eastover, a historic Gilded Age estate-turned-eco-retreat, spans an unpolluted forest and natural spring. The conditions allowed the scrolls — made with organic ink and paper — to interact freely with the elements. Nothing was artificially preserved. "We wanted nature to help complete the works," Zhang Pingjie notes.

Framed around the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar, the exhibition was designed to evolve with the seasons.

Now, as the final days approach, what remains is not just altered artwork, but a visual record of time, transformation and philosophical intent.

As Vine puts it: "This installation reminds us that nature always wins — either through harmony or consequence. The art doesn't resist that truth; it reveals it."