the art of truth, compassion, tolerance: preface and descriptions of art works

PureInsight | June 6, 2005

Preface

From the dawn of antiquity people have probed the profundities and mysteries of life, asking what is man's place in nature and how the human condition is to be understood. Perhaps nowhere was such inquiry more esteemed than in China's traditional culture, where man was seen as an integral part of nature. In that culture great consideration was given to the workings of the heavens, the qualities of the land, and harmony between people, and it was in the dynamic balance of such things that the sage sought concordance with Nature. Distilled in three laws, that Nature is: truth, compassion, and tolerance. The wellspring of all that may be called good, these laws lay at the heart of so much that humanity cherishes, be it moral values, freedom, or even peace. They undergird and yet surpass divisions of place and time, culture, the religious and the political. Eternal and ubiquitous, they are the spirit of life itself.

For the artist whose work bespeaks of a search for the true meaning of life, that eulogizes the divine, or grapples with questions even of good and evil, little can it be said that her work is meant merely to please or entertain. She creates, instead, to inspire in the viewer a higher wisdom or truth. The work of art is not here so much material as vehicle, the promise of which is passage to truth. What imbues the true work of art with an enduring, or universal, quality is its capacity to transcend situated, temporal ideas of beauty. It stands capable of cleansing the soul and ennobling the spirit. Only endowed with these traits may a work of art endure the test of time.

The works in this exhibit were created by a diverse group of accomplished artists. Through the practice of Falun Dafa?an ancient Chinese tradition of meditation and self-improvement?they have gained heath in both body and mind, deepened their grasp of the workings of nature, and found answers to a lifelong search for the greater meanings of art and life. Abiding by the way of truth, compassion, tolerance, they have witnessed their lives opening up to a process of constant renewal in which false notions and attachments molt away in favor a truer, innate self. It is a path of return, they tell, a path of recuperating a lost, higher self. In this exhibit the artists depict a vision of the world, their own first-hand experiences, and what it means to be part of the body of spiritual aspirants who seek to embody and perfect the virtues of truth, compassion, and tolerance.

The exhibit consists of four parts:
Part 1: The Beauty of Self-Cultivation
Part 2: Uncompromising Courage
Part 3: The Call for Justice
Part 4: Justice Prevails

These works poetically suggest the beauty of a life lived in keeping with a higher order?a life elevated by its accord with truth, compassion, tolerance?while depicting, in turn, the grim realities of cruel persecution that Falun Dafa has faced at the hands of China's Communist regime. In several of the latter works one finds a deep conviction in the workings of a higher, moral order, manifest as the meeting out of divine retribution. But amidst the wrenching inhumanity of torture and violence?where freedom, dignity, and goodness seem surely eclipsed?we see ordinary people becoming extraordinary. For here, in the darkest of quarters, the power of principled belief shines forth and empowers the meek with a breadth of mind and stamina far greater than the ordeals forced upon them. Truth, compassion, tolerance is here infused in the very marrow of the wounded, making victor of victim. The message is ultimately one of hope and triumph.

	Title/Artist/Painting Info	Descriptions
1	Title:*Why?* Artist: Weixing Wang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 52 in x 68.5 in Year: 2004	This painting is based on a true story. A mother and son were arrested in China simply because they practice Falun Gong. Being beaten, the boy held back his tears asking: Why? Why did the policemen beat my mom and me?
2	Title:*Homeless* Artist: Daci Shen Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 36 in x 48 in Year: 2003	This painting depicts a scene in which a little girl comes home from school only to find her parents gone. The two pieces of white paper on the door are official notices stating that the house has been condemned by the "610 Office," a Gestapo-like organization set up specifically to target Falun Gong. The red paper on the door reads "Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance."
3	Title:*Golden Lotus* Artist: Daci Shen Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 69 in x 43 in Year: 2004	The painting depicts a mother and child who were both tortured to death for their practice of Falun Gong. They are draped in a cloth that reads "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance". The inspiration came from a true story that has raised an international outcry. A young mother and her seven-month-old baby were both tortured to death after they were arrested. Autopsy reports revealed that the baby had been hung upside down and his skull had been crushed.
4	Title:*Come Back Daddy* Artist: Weixing Wang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 22 in x 30 in Year: 2004	Come Back Daddy is based on a true story of a mother and daughter who are friends of theArtist. The young girl, Fadu, holds a commemorative picture of her father, Chen Chengyong, who died from torture because of his practice of Falun Gong. Fadu and her mother, Zizheng Dai now live in Australia. Their story has been reported in international media.
5	Title:*Smoke and Ash* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Size: 39 in x 27.5 in Year: 2004	Besides an iron and cigarettes, prison guards have been known to use hot iron pokers that burn all the way to the bone on people who practice Falun Gong. Jiang Zemin, the former leader of China who is responsible for the perseuction of Falun Gong has decreed that "no means are too excessive" to eliminate the practice.
6	Title:*Tiger Bench* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Size: 39 in x 27.5 in Year: 2004	This piece depicts a common torture method used to inflict severe, prolonged pain. Bricks are stacked beneath the feet while ropes tying the legs down are pulled taut, bringing the legs to the point of breaking. TheArtist has given both men an ethereal halo - one bright, one dark and ghostly. The stark difference suggests what may be awaiting both men after this lifetime based on the choices they make during their lives.
7	Title:*Torture of a Woman* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Size: 39 in x 27.5 in Year: 2004	Accounts by female prisoners of conscience who have lived through torture in Chinese detention centers detail horrendous physical and sexual torture by not only prison guards, but prison inmates as well. Women who practice Falun Gong have been known to have been stripped naked and locked into male prison cells.
8	Title:*Abuse* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Size: 37 in x 25.5 in Year: 2004	The scene in this painting is based on a true story about an American Falun Gong practitioner who traveled from her home to China to appeal to the Chinese government to stop its persecution of Falun Gong. She was arrested her and physically abused by police, and then was expelled from China.
9	Title:*Like a Stone* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Size: 39 in x 27.5 in Year: 2004	This torture method jams sharp bamboo sticks underneath the fingernails. This method has been used on Falun Gong practitioners. In this depiction, even though the pain is excruciating, the practitioner endures.
10	Title:*Force Feeding* Artist: Weixing Wang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 22 in x 30 in Year: 2004	Once in jail and subjected to brutal torture, brainwashing and/or forced labor, Falun Gong practitioners have no means of appeal other than a hunger strike. Prison guards often use force-feeding as a form of torture. During force feedings, the guards hold down the victim and pry open the mouth with metal clamps. They then force a course rubber tube down the esophagus or insert a tube through the nostrils. They pour in different substances such as a mixture of water and cornmeal, a concentrated salt solution, or hot chili paste. The point is not to feed and nourish but to inflict pain to break the will. Such torture is extremely painful and is a common cause of death.
11	Title:*Inhumane* Artist: Xiao Ping Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 22 in x 30 in Year: 2004	Falun Gong practitioners who have escaped or been released from prisons have reported experiences such as this one, where prison guards are submerging a man's head into a bucket of human feces. One of the guards covers his own nose because of the odor. A pregnant female practitioner is hung in the back.
12	Title:Psychiatric Abuse Artist: Xiao Ping Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 40 in x 30 in Year: 2004	To turn public opinion against Falun Gong, China's state-run media disseminates false propaganda that claims people who practice Falun Gong will turn psychotic. The policemen in this picture inject psychotropic drugs into the woman because she refuses to give up her beliefs. The drugs may cause slurred speech, paralysis or even death. "Reeducation classes" often accompany such treatment. The light in the picture represents that even with such means, it is impossible to change a righteous heart.
13	Title:*Unwavering Spirit* Artist: Zhongqi Yao Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 48 in x 36 in Year: 2004	This painting is based on a true story as captured by Ian Johnson, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal who won a Pulitzer Prize for articles he wrote while stationed in Beijing. Perhaps his most famous piece, written in 2000, began with these words: "The day before Chen Zixiu died, her captors again demanded that she renounce her faith in Falun Dafa. Barely conscious after repeated jolts from a cattle prod, the 58-year-old stubbornly shook her head. Enraged, the local officials ordered Ms. Chen to run barefoot in the snow. Two days of torture had left her legs bruised and her short black hair matted with pus and blood, said cellmates and other prisoners who witnessed the incident. She crawled outside, vomited and collapsed. She never regained consciousness, and died on Feb. 21."
14	Title:*Unmovable* Artist: Amy Lee Type: Chinese Painting Size: 34 in x 55 in Year: 2004	TheArtist uses traditional Chinese painting techniques to show a woman in meditation who is unmoved by police trying to arrest her. Western-style angels restrain the policemen. TheArtist is no stranger to the violent and often insidious tactics used by Chinese authorities to break the human spirit. She was detained several times before she was finally able to escape from China.
15	Title:*Evil Policemen* Artist: Kunlun Zhang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 40 in x 30 in Year: 2004	Two of the policemen in this painting hold empty beer bottles, suggesting they are drunk as they beat the Falun Gong practitioner. TheArtist conveys that the policemen are indulging in their actions, which are encouraged by the Chinese Communist Party.
16	Title:*Group Torture* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Year: 2004	The men torturing this young woman are Chinese prison guards and prison inmates, working in concert. The extreme weight on her lower abdomen severely inhibits her breathing and nearly immobilizes her whole body.
17	Title:*Relentless* Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Pastel on Paper Year: 2004	This is a scene from a Chinese detention center, where prison guards are given directives to "transform" people who practice Falun Gong; that is, force them to renounce their beliefs. When brainwashing classes do not work, practitioners are subjected to relentless beatings, sometimes to the death.
18	Title:*A Tragedy in China* Artist: Yuan Li Year: 2004	A wife weeps beside her husband, who has been tortured to death at a brainwashing center. He holds in his hand a document that he was to sign, a pledge that defames Falun Gong.
19	Title:*Uncompromised Courage* Artist: Kathy Gillis Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 32 in x 57.5 in Year: 2004	This painting was based on a true story of Mr. Liu Chengjun. Mr. Liu Chengjun was a Falun Gong practitioner from northern China. In March 2002, he was sentenced to 19 years in prison for his involvement in broadcasting programs that exposed the brutality of the persecution against Falun Gong on Chinese television. After 21 months in prison, he was tortured to death. Demonic and monster-like images on the floor represent the horrors he endured while in detention. He is bathed in warm, golden light that represents a resilient faith.
20	Title:*Red Wall* Artist: Kunlun Zhang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 36 in x 48 in Year: 2004	This work records the personal experience and internal turmoil of theArtist, Kunlun Zhang. Professor Zhang was imprisoned in China for three months, during which time he experienced physical and mental torture, including brainwashing. The red wall represents the persecution of Falun Gong in China, which is so oppressive that it makes China seem like one big prison. The crack in the wall indicates that despite the red wall's menacing and seeming invincibility, its collapse has already begun.
21	Title:*Memorial* Artist: Zhongqi Yao Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 110 in x 42 in Year: 2004	This painting is in remembrance of some of the hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners who are known to have died under the violent repression. There are many more people who practice Falun Gong who are missing and unaccounted for after they were taken away by authorities.
22	Title:*Lotus Candle* Artist: Xiao Ping Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 40 in x 39.5 in Year: 2004	Numerous candlelight vigils have been held around the world to remember Falun Gong practitioners who have died from torture. The lotus flower is a symbol of enduring beauty and purity in Chinese culture because it rises from the murky bottom of a pond.
23	Title:*Positioning* Artist: Kunlun Zhang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 67 in x 117 in Year: 2003	This painting captures multiple images of peaceful appeals to the Chinese government on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Falun Gong practitioners carry signs that read "Falun Dafa is Good" while policemen and plain-clothed guards violently arrest them. Heavenly beings from Eastern and Western traditions are represented.
24	Title:*A Battle Between* Good and Evil Artist: Zhiping Wang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 66 in x 79 in Year: 2003	The man and woman in the forefront hold signs that read "Truth, Compassion, Tolerance," and "The Law rectifies the universe." The spirits of the plainclothes policemen bow before their victims, suggesting that the police have been deluded by higher authorities into carrying out orders against their own conscience.
25	Title:*The Sky Speaks* Artist: Kathy Gillis Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 32 in x 57.5 in Year: 2004	This painting illustrates theArtist's personal experience. When China's former leader, Jiang Zemin, visited Houston, Texas in October 2002, thousands of people who practice Falun Gong went there to appeal for an end to the persecution. During their appeal, practitioners withstood several days of unseasonably cold weather and heavy rains. The practitioners refused to be affected by the weather and stood their ground. Finally the storm cleared and a huge rainbow appeared in the sky.
26	Title:*Mock Trial* Artist: Kathy Gillis Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 32 in x 57.5 in Year: 2004	This painting is about a mock trial held in Ottawa, Canada in which Jiang Zemin was tried and convicted for genocide of Falun Gong and crimes against humanity. The impetus behind the mock trial were more than a dozen actual lawsuits that have been filed around world by victims of Jiang's genocide of Falun Gong.
27	Title:*Justice* Artist: Weixing Wang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 52 in x 68.5 in Year: 2003	Heavenly beings look on as the representative of evil is extinguished. The work reflects an understanding that evil actions will result in retribution on a higher plane.
28	Title:*Fulfilling Vows* Artists: Xiqiang Dong, Xiaoping Chen & Tingyin Shi Oil on Canvas Size: 79 in x 47 in Year: 2003	The heavenly beings in this painting represent all races, colors and cultures. Falun Gong is practiced in over 60 countries around the world and its practitioners also represent every ethnic group and every walk of life. Although Falun Dafa first originated in China, the search for truth and enlightenment is universal.
29	Title:*Waist Drum* Artist: Xiao Ping Type: Color Pencil on Paper Size: 32.5 in x 41 in Year: 2003	In many major cities around the world, people who practice Falun Gong participate in parades to celebrate traditional Chinese culture. TheArtist has drawn celestial beings playing amidst the clouds, echoing the unified beat from below.
30	Title:*Messenger* Artist: Xiqiang Dong Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 48 in x 36 in Year: 2004	On an early morning, a young woman delivers an important message to the town's people. The red Chinese characters read "Falun Dafa is Good." The media in China is controlled by the government and spreads propaganda to create hatred towards Falun Gong. The practitioners use peaceful ways to defy the injustice but do so carefully. Some who have been caught hanging up such signs have been tortured to death.
31	Title:*Banner* Artist: Xiqiang Dong Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 48 in x 36 in Year: 2004	The young woman is sewing a banner with the words "Falun Dafa is Good" in both Chinese and English. These are positive words, but they are also considered words of protest because countless practitioners of Falun Gong have spoken or written them in defiance of the efforts of Chinese authorities to tell them otherwise. The lovely baby in the foreground can be seen as a sign of hope, showing that the peaceful and life-giving nature of Falun Gong will prevail.
32	Title:*Cultivation* Artist: Kathy Gillis Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 32 in x 57.5 in Year: 2004	The brother and sister in this painting are reading Zhuan Falun, the book teaches about Falun Dafa cultivation practice. The spinning, red light above is an expression of the book's enriching teachings. The book has been translated into more than twenty languages.
33	Title:*Beacon* Artist: Xiqiang Dong Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 36 in x 48 in Year: 2004	Beacon depicts a scene from the daily life of a mother and daughter who practice Falun Gong. The mother is reading the book of Falun Dafa late at night as her young one falls asleep. A "Falun," the symbol of Falun Gong, serves as a backdrop. It consists of four taiji (yin-yang signs) and five swastikas, which represent a Buddha. Swastikas can be found throughout the East on Buddhist temples and statues.
34	Title:*Appeal* Artist: Yixiu Zhou Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 51 in x 64 in Year: 2004	This painting is inspired by a photograph taken of thirty-three practitioners of Falun Gong from all over the world who coordinated a peaceful appeal to the Chinese Government on Tiananmen Square. Moments after this photograph was taken, they were promptly ushered into police vans and expelled from China.
35	Title:Spring Morning in an Old Town Artist: Ruizhen Gu Type: Chinese Painting Size: 23.5 in x 6.5 in Year: 2003	The traditional Chinese painting depicts a spring morning when townspeople wake to find walls posted with signs about Falun Gong. The people read them intently, seeing through the Chinese government's propaganda.
36	Title:*Calling for Justice* Artist: Xiqiang Dong Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 48 in x 36 in Year: 2004	This painting depicts a scene that can be seen in front of Chinese embassies and consulates all around the world. The women in this picture practice their meditation in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., calling for Jiang Zemin to be brought to justice for his genocide against Falun Gong. These women go to appeal there everyday, rain or shine.
37	Title:*Righteous Thoughts and Righteous Actions* Artist: Ruizhen Gu Type: Chinese Painting Size: 23.5 in x 6.5 in 2003	TheArtist uses traditional Chinese painting techniques to present a scene in a moonlit night in a small village, where a grandmother and her grandchild post messages that tell the truth about the persecution against Falun Gong to their neighbors. The disc-like objects in the sky that "light their way" are Falun, the symbol of Falun Gong.
38	Title:*In Harmony* Artist: Xiao Ping Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 47 in x 69 in Year: 2004	This painting depicts a young woman in the fifth exercise of Falun Gong, "Way of Strengthening Divine Powers." The clear water and blue sky reflect her tranquility and a feeling of union with heaven while in meditation. The four "cultivated infants (celestial beings)" play amidst an energy field.
39	Title:*Pure Lotus* Artist: Zhengping Chen Type: Chinese Painting Size: Year: 2004	The woman in this painting practices the fifth exercise of Falun Gong, "Way of Strengthening Divine Powers." Lotus flowers blooming around her suggest the purifying effect of the meditation on both her mind and body.
40	Title:*Turning the Great Law Wheel* Artist: Kunlun Zhang Type: Oil on Canvas Size: 82.5 in x 63 in Year: 2004	This painting shows the founder of Falun Gong, Mr. Li Hongzhi, before an audience. "Falun" literally means Law Wheel, a term from Buddhist traditions. One of the meanings of the phrase "Turning the Great Law Wheel" is to teach about the Law or Way of the universe.