Another Look at “Shoushan Stone Art, an Unrivaled Art Form”

Author: Tim Hui,  Secretary General, International Shoushan Stone Association

"Shoushan Stone Art" must not be compared with ordinary stone carving or sculpture.  Even though both art forms go through a process that resembles "entering the picture into the stone", the latter is unilaterally directed by the artist, while the former is completed through relatively tortuous and somewhat passive techniques.
Because of unclear variables of qualities of different colors and thicknesses, the creator often cannot control the creative process at will, the final piece often comes about through different degrees of luck.  Therefore, the highest level of Shoushan stone artworks must embody the essential factors of the "Five Must Nots": must not be predictable; must not be controllable; must not be extortable; must not be imitable; must not fail to be incredible.  It must be totally and completely based upon the coincidence of natural and human design.  The distinction between the levels of superiority in these two types of stone artwork becomes immediately apparent.

Viewing from another angle, the source of stone art that I have been trying to promote comes from what our predecessors called "ingeniously coincidental carving", in which the primary emphasis is clearly on "ingeniously coincidental".  It is only because ever since China's opening up to the outside world, most business people have been more committed to promoting "the stone" and not the "ingeniously coincidental".  Personally, my latest understanding is that the top-notch works should contain the following "Six Ingenious Factors":

1. Ingenious coloration -- no less than two, best to have five.
2. Ingenious idea -- the artist must "size up" the design program for the stone.
3. Ingenious workmanship -- design must incorporate the natural patterns shown by the stone in its natural state.
4. Ingenious stone -- the appearance must be naturally balanced, charming and rare.
5. Ingenious excellence -- it must have everlasting, attractive,  intoxicating appeal.
6. Ingenious coincidence -- it must appear to be incredible and unbelievable.

The meaning of "unrivaled" is truly one of a kind, and inimitable. 
Strictly speaking, from the scientific perspective, everything in the world is unique, but when it comes to achieving uniqueness at the level of visual perception, and at the same time being forever inimitable, then among artistic works it would appear that this honor can go only to those that use naturally colored stone as their medium.  This is because the advanced technologies and specialists of the present day can create imitations of other forms without much difficulty.

In the face of arts market which is becoming more inflated and grotesque by the day, the profit-obsessed unprincipled merchants and those ignorant copycats who compound errors, intentionally stir up waves, propagate platitudes, draw on the past to denigrate the present, and resort to whatever falsity is required to achieve their goals.  Disregard for what is true and what is false has allowed the evolution of twin bodies, and now manufacture of copies has become increasingly scientific, with the result that distinguishing the true from the false is almost impossible, a situation in which the true is mistaken for the false, so the false becomes regarded as true. This has indirectly leaded to a situation in which experts, either knowingly or unknowingly, produce erroneous authentications, which causes all kinds of different commercial crimes.  Relevant authorities in the arts have their hands tied and dare not say anything except to replay the old tune:  "the original work" overwhelms all others, "reputation" is iron-clad proof, "experts" represent truth, and "auctions" are eternal.  Ultimately, they have failed to keep up with the times, to discuss the brand new meanings of arts, the true value of the arts, or to add healthy elements into the life of artworks. 

One may ask, when a steady stream of forgeries of internationally famous paintings are sold on the Web for a tiny fraction of the original's value, like rogues running wild, with such loud, howling warning signals, shouldn't this be an enlightenment to practitioners and collectors alike?  Can we just heave a helpless sigh, or even pretend not to notice, as though nothing were wrong?  The answer is not hard to imagine.  The most important reason is that it has never been discussed within the artistic circles, which have also ignored the importance of "being truly unique and absolutely inimitable", thus avoiding to touch upon the "fatal point" of the work of art itself.  This leads to most people being unable to understand the true essence of "being unique and mine alone".  They are only able to perceive "original works", "reputation", ”experts” and "auctions".  Other reasons are simply that a portion of the people have vested interests, and the great majority have not yet become aware of the existence of "Shoushan Stone Art".

When we summarize the various types of corrupt practice, explore them in greater depth and examine their root causes, it is not difficult to discover that various roots of the evil are all different manifestations that "our forefathers' ways are not worth following".  What is the way to break out of this situation?  Besides..... There is also "In study, we should have our alternate viewpoints. To establish ourselves in society we must be good at examining human affairs."

Once the above view points make the artistic world wake up and review, numerous debates will happen frequently afterwards.  I of course will be delighted to see this happen, and it is my profound belief that the more it is debated, the more the truth will become clear.

My final note:  "Shoushan Stone Art is Unrivaled"! Is this a crazy notion?  Is it believable?

(Vancouver, 2007 Mid-Autumn Festival)