[Translated Text] Painting of the Mind (October 1986)

Bagyi Aung Soe, “Painting of the Mind”, Panyoksun (October 1986), 48-50.1

48 There was an article [by another author] titled “Abstract Painting” [Burmese: ၿဒပ္မဲ့ ပန္းခ်ီ;] in the previous August issue of Hkyeyi magazine.

Since a young amateur who was interested in that article visited me, we discussed abstract painting.

Youth: Uncle, I guess it is difficult to explain abstract painting to laypersons and for them to get it. The article I read is just an introduction anyway. No matter what, most painters nowadays seem to be taking a strong interest in abstract painting, and I dropped by as I don’t understand some of them.

Me:

In the “mini Burmese dictionary”, “matter” is defined as “substance or material”. It also reads that “mass” is defined as “a matter having volume”. Hence, “abstract painting” can be interpreted as “painting without mass and a body”. Although the vocabulary “abstract painting” cannot be found in Burmese culture, it does exist in painting. The word “matter” is derived from Pāli.

In Pali Dictionary written by U Htun Myint, “matter” is explained as “substance, material, object”. Then, in Epic Poem of the Moon Kinnari, it is also written that “things, having matter, held within a lily bud”. In Treatise on the Path of Esoteric Knowledge, there is a line that reads, “Matter is an atom assembled by lakhs of earth particle compounds”.

When the English usage of “Abstract Art” [English] is translated into Burmese, it is called “painting of the absence of matter” [Burmese: ၿဒပ္မဲ့ ပန္းခ်ီ]. “Abstract” [English] means “not constant and not having physical existence”. “Abstract Art” [English] was used to mean “psychotic painting” [Burmese: စိတၱဇ ပန္​္းခ်ီ] in the past. As neither the adults nor the young painters appreciated it, it was replaced by “painting of the new era” [art; Burmese: eခတ$သစ$ ပန္းခ်ီ].

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The combination of the two words “mind” and “field” or “scope”, the title refers to that which happens in the mind alone”. It is distinct from abstract or non-objective painting which the author defines as having no object or matter. Characteristic of usage in the modern period, the Burmese word meaning “painting” is often used to stand for “art”, and likewise “painter” for “artist”. In this article, the original meaning of “painting” and “painter” is favoured. When translated as “art” and “artist”, “[painting]” and “[painter]” in square brackets follows.

Bagyi Aung Soe, “Imaginary Art”, Pan-yote-sone (October 1986), 48-50.

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

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“Painting of the new era” is translated as “Modern Art” [English]. “Abstract Art” [English] is just a part of “Modern Art” [English], of course.

Youth: What is written in that article is that “I want to discuss abstract painting and painting of the new era, instead of young painters”.

49 As the proverb goes, it is like paying for my own meal while looking after my aunt’s cattle for free. Moreover, it is written that if one wants to understand this domain, it has to be discussed within the context of the history of painting. One has to have a sense of painting even to understand conventional painting.

Uncle, I’m interested in this subject. It is why I came.

Me:

You might know that “Point” [English], “Line” [English], “Shape” [English] and “Form” [English] are the four basic components in drawing. When a painter creates a “Perspective Drawing” [English], a “Point” [English] on his sketch is created with only “Line” [English] and “Shape” [English]. As the drawing is without “Form” [English] and has only width and length, it seems to be called a shape. For instance, draw a horizontal line from the top to the bottom on a page and also a curve crossing over the line as shown in this figure. This figure can be entitled “Male and Female” in abstract painting.

Youth: In that article, something that has width, length and form is assumed to be “3 Dimension” [English; sic] matter as per painting, while one having only length and width is known as a “Shape” [English] in art usage. In this case, how does one address art that is without matter?

Me:

The answer is obvious. Matter is described as having width, length and form. Since the word “me” [Burmese: မဲ]့ means “absence”, the word “dat me” [Burmese: ဒပ္မ]ဲ့ (abstract [Burmese: စိတ္ကူး]), may be translated as the article’s title: “imaginary painting” [Burmese: စိတ္နယ္ ပန္းခ်ီ] or “abstract painting” [Burmese: စိတ္ကူး ပန္းခ်ီ].

(There I drew on a plain piece of paper a figure of a lady sitting, with her back turned to the viewer and her left hand on the ground.) How is this different from the usual ones in Burmese?

Its “shape” [English] is not clearly drawn. It is as if she’s gazing. Her hands on the ground and at the waist, her derrière and legs are all drawn using short lines. It also has a shape that allows the observer to imagine the painter’s intention in ways more than one.

Youth: Then, it is also written in “Abstract Painting” that whether it is a traditional Burmese painting or an ancient mural painting in Egypt, it is just a planar figure having only Bagyi Aung Soe, “Imaginary Art”, Pan-yote-sone (October 1986), 48-50.

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

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width and length. The pictures were drawn in the planar mode as the painters didn’t know everything about art [painting] yet. It is also stated that painting of the new era [art; Burmese: eခတ$သစ$ ပန္းခ်ီ] by youths today is created using the easiest and simplest ways since they know about art [painting].

Me:

Well, the author might be writing metaphorically to describe painting of the new era.

According to professional painters, art [painting] is a subject encompassing deep extensive knowledge whose acquisition is never-ending. It is said that it ceases only at death. It is why we are all still trying, isn’t it?

50 Youth: In the article, it also reads that it would be more natural and beautiful if only “Gray” [English] hues are applied.

Me:

It is called “Gray” [English] in art. The colour formed by mixing black and white paints is called as “Half-tone” [English] or dry colour “Gray” [English] in art usage. “Gray” [English] is also classified as “Decorative” [English] and “Fine Gray” [English]. In addition, the colours achieved when black and white are mixed with basic colours such as yellow, red and blue are not called “Colour” [English] but “Tone” [English]. It is denoted as “Mono-tone” [English] or shade of colour. Although it is simply colourhue [Burmese: အေရာင္ အေသြး] in Burmese, colour and hue are actually different in painting. Other than the “Spectrum” [English] of the rainbow derived from the three primary colours of red, yellow and blue, you might already know about the variety of light and dark colours. As there can be reddish-orange, orange and yellowish-orange between red and orange, there can be yellowish-green, green and greenish-blue between yellow and blue, as well as indigo, violet and reddish-violet between blue and red. Likewise, the tones created by mixing black and white are called hues.

Youth: My feeling about art is that people who still accept the disproportionate [abstract] painting might be those whose senses are still unsound.

Me:

Actually, it is the inner character, rather than the appearance, that is expressed in this art of the new era. The scope of art’s [painting’s] ideologies is way too wide.

There is a quote by Alinka Kyawswa U Ngwe Gaing, “When foregrounding content that is to come across as natural, you first need to direct good intention to it. You can express its nature by focusing on it with compassion.”2 It means that you have to see the image using imagination prior to its creation.

Similarly, my colleagues in art [painting] have said that although a nice work of art can be created using the right techniques, between appearance and the inner

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“Alinka Kyawswa” [Burmese: အလၤကာ ေက်ာ္စြာ] is an honorific title given to masters in field of art.

Bagyi Aung Soe, “Imaginary Art”, Pan-yote-sone (October 1986), 48-50.

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

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abstract nature, art [painting] that is created spontaneously prioritise the inner nature to create a magnificent work. Ingenious art with enhanced flavours of art consists of a combination of “Contrast” [English], “Harmony” [English] and “Atmosphere” [English].

To define abstract painting in the simplest way, it is “Non-objective Painting” [English]: an imaginary painting in colour without object and form, as professionals of art say. If you still cannot accept this, you should approach the author of the article.

In order to fulfill the aspirations of Pan magazine – to maximise the development of art [painting], the enhancement of literature and the attainment of wisdom –, all that I have learnt about art is here presented.

Bagyi Aung Soe

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai Edited by Yin Ker

Bagyi Aung Soe, “Imaginary Art”, Pan-yote-sone (October 1986), 48-50.

Translated by Pann Hmone Wai; edited by Yin Ker.

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AungSoeillustrations.org