Apparitions

An apparition is, paradoxically, both present and notably absent: the trace of something past. This section observes works that use partial and total absence to aestheticize the state of being and not being, by using layered translucent washes, or, forgoing pigment entirely, depicting a soft petal, a thick mist, or a human figure through its absence.

Southern Song Dynasty Chan monk Zhirong (1114–1193) set a historical precedent for aestheticizing absence through ink. His wanglianghua, or “apparition painting,” was portrayed using watered-down ink, diluted to the point of being difficult to see. His works were described by his contemporaries as astonishingly pale, in between a state of presence and absence—as if the intention of the painting was not to depict a figure or landscape, but to evoke the idea that one was missing.

Dreamy mists and clouds, winding around the body of a mountain or across the surface of a lake, are used throughout ink-art history to break up the foreground and background of a composition. These qualities are echoed in the contemporary works found in this section, embodying the phantasmic qualities of an apparition.