Theoretical Significance of Painting as Performance

Abstract

In ancient China, there are some instances of painting as performance in which painters produced their works in front of a large or small audience, rather than doing it alone. The most famous among them may be Wu Daozi (685?–758)’s painting halo in public, and Zhang Zao (active around 750)’s entertaining guests with painting. These instances look like modern practices in the 20th century, and are seemingly unusual more than 1000 years ago. Many may take these as bizarre stories made up by eccentrics. It seems to me, however, that these were quite common in ancient China, and can be regarded as indicative of the unique characteristics of Chinese painting. It can inspire us to contemplate on certain fundamental issues of painting theory in general.