Chao Er Tai

1982

泛黃

POST WINGS

This work depicts a forest scene in the mountains, with layers of peaks rising and falling in the mist, trees arranged in rows, and a vast, silent sky and earth. At the bottom of the painting, a small figure dressed in red stands alone on a forest path, its size dwarfed by the surrounding environment.

This red figure is a recurring self-symbol in Zhao Erdai's creations. The figure does not perform any actions or occupy the center of the composition, but rather adopts a near-observer posture, wandering through nature. The color red here is not ostentatious but represents a conscious awareness of existence—amidst the vastness of the universe, one may be small, yet still possess a clear understanding of one’s position.

The treatment of the mist in the painting causes the mountains and forests to lose their distinct boundaries. Nature is no longer an object to be grasped but a continuously flowing, indefinable realm of existence. Zhao Erdai does not deliberately portray the grandeur of the mountains; instead, through wet ink, light colors, and blurred brushstrokes, he creates a sense of uncertain spatiality that guides the viewer’s gaze into the experience of "walking within."

In this work, the human figure is no longer the subject of nature, nor a contrasting object against it, but merely a part of the whole. The smallness of the figure is not a diminishment, but a return—a return to the original state of being as a component of life.

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