Moving or Stationary

Yutang Lin

Flow of all things is originally in perfect harmony
The totality flows concurrently, moving or stationary indiscernible
Relatively viewed, moving or stationary and slow or fast noticed
Subjectively sensed, even taking others' movement as one's own
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Or one's own motion as that of others

In displays of human artistry
Only stationary amounts to dead
Only moving brings about confusion
Appearance of movement in stationary work enlivens it
Existence of stillness in moving work stabilizes it

How to apply this principle in the art of sculpture, the beauty of paintings
Is where an artist would apply attentions to

As far as my limited and shallow view can see
Chinese seals mostly strive at liveliness in stillness but lack sense of motion
Thus artists' artistry applied to arrangement and refinement of lines and spaces
And yet on the whole it is bounded by a sense of being stationary

Objects in scenery while they are swaying in the wind
Could be caught at any instant, as stationary in motion
To present motion in stillness
Applying this idea to the art of Chinese-seal sculpture
　　　　Arrangement of spaces and lines need not be even
　　　　Strokes need not be refined and solid
Motion in stationary presentation, enlivened only by senses of beauty
But full of force of life and sense of motion

My ideas were presented above
For experts' considerations
Perhaps they could bring about a fresh facet
For the art of Chinese-seal sculpture

Written in Chinese and translated on April 11, 2008
El Cerrito, California

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