John Zurier — Level Distance

The title “Level distance” is meant to suggest breadth, balance, stillness and expansion, qualities that are important to my painting It is a theoretical phrase from Guo Xi (ca. 1000 – ca. 1080), the eleventh century Northern Song Dynasty painter. In his text, “The Lofty Message of Forests and Streams,” Guo Xi puts forth three compositional formulas for achieving atmosphere and spaciousness in painting. They have been repeated, refined, reinvented and rebelled against in classical Chinese painting for centuries. In a painting at “level distance” the eye sweeps slowly toward a remote view. How this was done, whether unhindered or interrupted, could be an allusion to painting itself, levels of abstraction, the personality of the painter, or an implied comment on the political situation of the era.

For the past two years, I have been looking at traditional Chinese and Japanese painting and reflecting on poetry and nature’s inclusiveness, as in being true to one’s own nature, and the moods associated with the seasons and how the contemplation of them in painting evokes corresponding feelings. In the painting titled, “After D.J.,” the initials are for Dai Jin, the 15th century Ming Dynasty painter. “Late Spring,” and “Track (Spring Evening)” have been influenced by the poetry and painting of Yosa Buson, the 18th century Japanese poet and painter.

In these paintings, I am also drawing on my experiences in California and Iceland seeing movement and stillness, closeness and distance, not as opposing forces but simultaneous in the present with the sound of the wind and the light and air of an empty room.

(John Zurier)