INDULGENCE IN PERSONAL TASTE – YEARS OF OBSESSION INVESTIGATING CONTEMPORARY PAINTINGS III
Tan Jun’s tastes embody his pickiness towards paper. After experimenting with treated scroll paper, untreated scroll paper and partially treated scroll paper, he tried parchment, cotton, flax paper, yuanshu paper, yunlong paper, fine rice paper and cicada skins before finally finding the best material carrier for his expressions: “handmade original color long fiber wrapping paper.” The natural color of the unbleached paper is needed to present a vivid, translucent air. The long fibers make the paper more durable and add a unique feel to the sheets. The paper must be water-permeable but not overly sensitive, so that there is no order to the bleeding of the ink. Tan Jun uses the supposed disadvantages of this paper as advantages. His pursuit of the primitive and crude qualities of paper has established the weighty yet vibrant spirit of his artworks, and his tastes find manifestation within the sprightly beasts, birds, forms and expressions that populate his ancient-style images.
