In Adagio (2019), Nina Pryde conveys nature as an evolving entity. On the left and centre of the painting, the ink splashes are dark, vague and blurry. This reflects a...
In Adagio (2019), Nina Pryde conveys nature as an evolving entity. On the left and centre of the painting, the ink splashes are dark, vague and blurry. This reflects a cosmogonic stage prior to the phenomenal differentiation. As we move to the right, the forms be-come more clear and tangible. The right includes a photograph of a temple with sharply outlined contours. This reflects the stage in which ‘zhi’ or matter manifested itself, in which things are given more characteristics and details. Through this representation, the artist conveys how the landscape, like all living things, grows from development to consummate representation. The composition also reflects the artist’s ability to cut multiple axes within pictorial space. Shes uses intersecting diagonals to guide and focus the viewer’s attention. This results in the shape of an “infinity loop”. This can be interpreted as an organic model or living cycle, reflect-ing how all living things undergo the same states of unfolding and becoming.
The use of colour in Adagio (2019) is also significant. The bottom part has pink and coral tones. The middle layer has ink splashing. The upper layer has more subtle shades of light orange. The warm colour palette conveys comfort, tranquility, ease. It appeals to the viewer’s emotions. It also creates a sense of femininity, reflecting the artist’s sense of self. This is a study and mental reflection of artist. Pryde’s use of colour in here is very Western. Like Richter or Kadinsky’s masterpieces, this is a spiritual arrangement of col-our. Lin Xiaoping attempts to explains the origins of Western influences in contemporary Chinese painting. He argues that Chinese painting is the result of modern art education, which formed a crucial part of modernization movement intitiated by Chinese bour-geois reformists in the early 20th century. Thus began a new era of history of Chinese art. Although Pryde is fundamentally a chi-nese ink artist, she symbolises a fusion between western and traditional Chinese painterly styles.