Read a recent interview from the French online magazine Ikoness: Intuitively minimal with Yeachin Tsai, on artist’s role in the digital era as being genuine. The full article: IKONESS/ par Alix de Boisset
1. Do you consider yourself as an emerging artist in contemporary art scene ?
Yeachin Tsai: I feel at this time of the digital era, everyone is emerging, coming and going. I am just a humble, genuine soul using art as my medium to convey my life experiences. Nothing is new and nothing is old.
2. How would you describe your style ?
Yeachin Tsai: Modern/traditionalist. My work is deeply rooted in my culture. Especially in Chinese calligraphy training.
3. Tell us about your experience…
Yeachin Tsai: I’ve trained since a young age from my cultural background: traditional Chinese calligraphy and ink painting. Chinese is mainly a pictorial language of the Yin and Yang principle. Each symbol has its vibrant life. The empty space actually is an active, crucial component of the painting itself. The artwork is alive within the space and energy of those marks and colors, imbued with the spirit/intent of the artist.
While growing up in Taiwan, I had the fortunate opportunity to study traditional Chinese brush painting and calligraphy with several accomplished masters. Since I moved to NY three decades ago, I have incorporated that training into my experiments with modern materials and idioms.
4. Would you describe your artwork as minimalist?
Yeachin Tsai: In the busy modern life, a simple, restful image is soothing and spiritual. It uplifts people. In that sense, I would say my work is symbolic, bold, and minimal.
5. Tell us more about traditional calligraphy and brush painting?
Yeachin Tsai: Traditional Chinese calligraphy and brush painting are like classic Chinese poetry, it requires a certain form, and a lot of discipline. However, the most crucial point is the “spirit”, the Chi (energy) of the artist, which will be truthfully manifested on the paper, or on any painting surface. The practice is very meditative. It is an art form of mindfulness and awareness, and of course, playfulness and thoughtfulness.
6. Are your works a way of looking at time differently?
Yeachin Tsai: To me there is a term called “the fourth time” (a Buddhism term) – which means timeless; beyond time.
7. Do you feel like you carry a message about the value of illusion in people’s lives and their relationship to nature today?
Yeachin Tsai: Yes, I think we all live in various illusions according to our own versions of reality. We will have to find our own way to live in harmony with nature and seek truth if we can. That would be a meaningful thing to do.
8. What emotions do you want to trigger through your works?
Yeachin Tsai: A sense of openness, a sense of vastness, a sense of joy and peace.
9. The abstract figures in your paintings are colorful. Are they intended to awaken our souls to the essential, which is difficult to perceive today?
Yeachin Tsai: They are some humorous figures, like those around us, like my own moods sometimes. When I see myself, I seem to see all. Humanity is universal.
10. How does nature inspire you in your creative process on a daily basis?
Yeachin Tsai: Just like Jackson Pollock said: “I am nature.” I feel I am part of nature. I breathe the cold winter air, see the blue sky, feel the icy rain… all is nature.
11. Do you consider your work as a dialogue between Chinese paintings and Western abstraction?
Yeachin Tsai: Perhaps. If I am genuine, this should happen organically. Since that was where I was from and where I am.
12. Which artists from the contemporary art world inspire you today?
Yeachin Tsai: There are so many. It is really hard for me to point to one in particular. I am inspired by many great artists from both west and east.
13. What is your relationship to transmission and legacy for future generations in relation to your art of calligraphy, in an era where everything is ephemeral, especially with digital technology?
Yeachin Tsai: Sadly time is moving forward, and digital technology is unavoidable. However, humans will always be human. We still have feelings we want to convey. It is just the forms we use will be different. It is like cooking, nothing can compare with mother’s home cooking, right? Something is always earthy and real, as a human being we won’t lost that touch. People will always use their hands to create some beautiful things.
14. Does French cultural heritage particularly move you?
Yeachin Tsai: I really cannot say I know too much about the French cultural heritage. I am deeply touched by the reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris… That gives me hope for the strength of humanity. It is very symbolic and very moving. Yes, there is light in these dark times!
