In this diptych, natural forces and the passage of time become active participants in the creative process. On the left, the characters “mountains and waters” or simply, “landscape” (shanshui) can be clearly read. On the right, they are almost entirely erased by the forces at work. Landscape painting in water and ink takes concrete form as three manifestations of water: landscape (“mountains, water” or shanshui), ink (“ink water” or moshui), and ice (“ice water” or bingshui), together spelling the title of the piece.

© Dao Guangyu, photo: Maurice Aeschimann, Geneva