While writing the blog about Friedensreich Hundertwasser’s wonderful paintings, I noticed a peculiar similarity between them and several paintings and woodblock prints by Chen Li, a Chinese artist whom I represent and who is based in China’s remote Yunnan Province.

Chen Li is a rare talent who marches to the tune of his own drum (as Hundertwasser advocated and did himself) and whose jueban woodblock print The Human Buddha was acquired by The British Museum after his first exhibition with us in London.

Chen Li, *Human Buddha VI*, 2009, jueban woodblock print, Edition of 18

Hundertwasser, *Columbus Landed in India*, detail

Chen Li, *Human Buddha V*, 2009, jueban woodblock print, Edition of 20

I asked Chen Li if his compositions were inspired by Hundertwasser’s work. He said that although he saw Hundertwasser’s paintings a few years after graduation, the inspiration for his work came from studying Buddhist art, especially Tibetan murals and the statues in Longmen Grottoes. (A cave complex in China’s Henan Province, the grottoes house what are considered to be some of the finest examples of Chinese Buddhist art, including tens of thousands of statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and his disciples).

Hundertwasser, *Three Eyed Green Buddha with Hat*, 1974, offset lithograph, Edition of 2500

Chen Li, *Human Buddha III*, 2009, jueban woodblock print, Edition of 12

Since Chen Li’s compositions were not influenced by Hundertwasser, I decided to search further into Hundertwasser’s inspiration, to see if there was something that similarly inspired both artists. The connection was both expected and not - Buddhism and Japanese woodblock prints.

Like many artists in the mid 20th century, Hundertwasser was drawn to art from the Far East as it provided a fresh perspective, free from the constraints of Western academic traditions. He was captivated by the work of Japanese masters Hiroshige and Hokusai. While exhibiting in Tokyo in 1961, he became inspired by the traditional Japanese ukiyo-e wood printing technique, going on to work in close collaboration with Japanese woodcutters over a period of seven years.

Hundertwasser, *White Fog Song of a Mandarin*, Japanese woodcut in 21 colours, Ed 3/200, 42.5 x 57 cm, 1992, landaufineart.ca

Chen Li, *Human Buddha IV*, 2009, Edition of 21

This interest, along with his life-long engagement with Taoism and Zen Buddhism, would have inevitably led him to examine the same or similar Buddhist artworks that have so inspired Chen Li.

Looking at Buddhist art, especially Tibetan murals, also may explain how both artists had independently come to represent trees and flowers through the happily memorable concentric circles.

Hundertwasser, *The Palisade*, printed 1997-98, silk screen in 11 colours, metal embossings in 2 colours, Edition of 300

Wheel of Life mural, Sera Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet

On the walls of Tibetan monasteries are murals of the Wheel of Life which consists of four concentric circles, symbolising samsara, or the cycle of death and rebirth. Another constant in Buddhist devotional images is the mandala, a circular figure representing the universe in its ideal form, free from suffering and full of joy.

I know both concepts appeal to Chen Li and I imagine (pure speculation on my part) that Hundertwasser would have found them equally appealing as he once wrote "We are in need of magic. I fill a picture until it is full with magic, as one fills up a glass with water. Everything is so infinitely simple, so infinitely beautiful."

And so, across cultures and generations, ancient Buddhist art and East Asian woodblock cutting techniques have reached and similarly inspired two great and fiercely independent artists.

Connections