The Versatile Master Artist

Chapter 34: Chapter 22: Elder Cao’s Troubles

It is a new painting.

It is also an old painting.

Gu Weijing recognized the origin of the colored mural before him.

”Buddha Worship and Protection Painting” — this is a classic mural in the style of Southeast Asian art.

Rather than just a mural, it is a pictorial expression of local Buddhist scripture collections. It stands about a meter high, with intricate scenes and rich character images originating from typical sutra stories, from the golden stairway of the thirty-three heavens, to sutra stories with Pali annotations, to the everyday hustle and bustle of the common people. From the king holding the illustrious stair of treasures to the ordinary people in the market life.

From an artistic aesthetic perspective, it is a mural with vibrant colors and lively forms.

Or rather —

It should have been so.

There’s often a ’but’ between what should be and what is.

But —

Unfortunately, these paintings themselves are extremely dilapidated.

One could even say.

They are merely left with their skeletons.

A great crack has run from the left and split through the figures with plump features and solemn expressions, the handmaid with a floral offering in hand, the monk proceeding slowly with hands clasped in prayer, and even the cheek of the Arhat.

Gu Weijing shook his head regretfully, as these scars have directly damaged the form of this exquisite mural.

Myanmar’s ancient relics have suffered multiple calamities.

The mural groups in Dongxia’s Dunhuang were extremely painfully damaged during the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic Era, with many scripture paintings being ”bought” away by Western ”adventurers” in what could essentially be called looting.

And the same incidents in modern Southeast Asia are far from rare. Buddhist monastery relics and mural groups in ancient cities like Bagan in the eastern part of Myanmar have faced similar issues, especially with the past’s imperfect awareness of relic protection worsening their preservation difficulty.

Gu Weijing is not an archaeologist, but even from an artist’s perspective, seeing such exquisite relics being damaged is equally heartbreaking.

”To think I could get such a challenging task?”

Gu Weijing shook his head, quickly opened the draft in his hand, and sketched a rough review of the mural’s restoration plan against its content.

They, these painters, are not professional scholars, and as Master Cao said — murals are never art exhibitions. Mural restoration work is not about hosting art exhibitions, so it’s very taboo to self-create or free-play.

It is conducting heritage protection work.

For preservation work, even in its brokenness, it reflects historical information of its own.

However, this painting is somewhat different.

Gu Weijing flipped through the signatures on the draft. The section for the direct supervisor of this mural bears the name Cao Xuan; this painting is directly overseen by Mr. Cao himself.

He is currently not within the range of the Great Golden Pagoda.

Rather, he is at the plaza’s edge, at a spot specifically planned for an art project in collaboration with the Bagan Archaeological Museum.

Here there are new murals, relics restored according to historical records, and even artworks evaluated and migrated from 500 kilometers away in Bagan.

This mural is situated at the junction of these elements.

At the core of all these elements.

The task card also has simple annotations, indicating that these should be mural relics from around the 10th century AD. Bagan is nicknamed the land of ten thousand pagodas, with historical constructions amounting to around four million various pagodas along with numerous mural works.

This mural group originally about 30 meters long.

But over multiple earthquakes throughout the ages, and in the humid environment, most have been damaged and faded.

The project team has protectively transferred over some of the complete works, with the eastern side of the entire planned area displaying the original, and the west showcasing new works.

This piece lies at the center, ”linking” them together.

So at first sight upon arriving here, Gu Weijing felt it was a ”half-new,” ”half-old” piece of work. It was both old and new creation.

Numerically, this is the site-planned ’No.17’ mural, but in reality, from a certain perspective, this Buddha Worship painting even ranks first among the ”new” mural groups.

At this time, the blank spaces of the No.17 mural before him have completed the filling of fracture repair glue, with someone delicately penciling over the broken ink lines with a brush to restore them.

Only the blank for coloring remains.

The painter’s skill in ink drawing restoration is exceptionally precise, leaving people in awe.

Not to say the restored strokes are without fault, that they are a hundred percent perfect.

But rather, its art style, whether in the technique of using the brush or the shade of the ink lines, maintains very high consistency with the original mural.

Except for the colors appearing slightly more intense due to the ink lines having dried recently.

Judging with the insight afforded by ”Mojie’s Handwriting,” Gu Weijing finds it impossible to detect traces of after-the-fact emulation.

Any artist has their unique style, yet the person painting this mural could completely integrate their style with that of the original relic, earning admiration.

For artifact restoration, truth outweighs beauty.

Or rather, preserving the original historical traces is the greatest good.

”I wonder if it’s Elder Cao’s disciple lining the wall with a draft or if Elder Cao is wielding the pen himself.”

Gu Weijing took out a palette and began experimenting with color mixing.

Restoring a mural with a complex composition and many variances in character color is no small challenge, even for him with the aid of ”Mojie’s Handwriting.”

He started painting with caution and even a bit of hesitation.

For a moment, Gu Weijing indeed doubted if, given the mural’s difficulty, this was work he initially could have accessed.

He hadn’t considered that someone might want to harm him.

He just felt it was really too difficult, wondering if he should ask the teachers for a different task.

No one was around.

He pondered in front of the mural for a while.

In the end, he still picked up his brush.

”Do the parts you are confident you can do well. Start only with those blocks of simple colors,” Gu Weijing said, looking at the lotus in the painting.

He was a painter.

Painters have a kind of obsession.

So he couldn’t bear to miss such an opportunity.

He didn’t think anyone could blend colors better than himself, who had just acquired the ’Mojie’s Handwriting’.”

No matter how many concerns were in his heart, Gu Weijing did not want to let a painting become worse when he could do it well; that would be a desecration of art.

The artifact was definitely not a canvas for him to experiment with techniques, so Gu Weijing dared not touch those places where the lines were too complex.

He had a side that was excited by the hunt.

His ears reverberated with Old Sir Cao Xuan’s previous words, ”I don’t allow him.”

After much contemplation.

Gu Weijing told himself that the artwork comes first; careful and cautious, he may lift the brush, but he would rather not paint than compromise the painting.

Restoration is just restoration.

Just like the original painter did, blending into the surrounding artwork style is more important than showcasing oneself.

This is the self-cultivation that the Gu family has carried through generations, holding the brush, no matter how external circumstances change.

”Indigo stone, ultramarine juice, barium copper powder...”

No, this color is still a bit thick.

”Maybe adding a bit of zinc white and clam powder might be more appropriate?” Gu Weijing carefully adjusted the palette.

...

The square, the Buddha worship activities.

Watching the water flow past the altar representing the Zodiac Buddha Shrine, among the chanting voices of monks and clerics beside it, Elder Cao’s originally solemn face showed a trace of near-reverent contemplation.

Many, many years ago.

When he was very young, the old man once resided in a Zen temple in Jiangnan. Peaceful, plain, and more importantly... meals were cheap, and lodging or staying at the temple has been a common resting place for scholars in old novels.

This is also one major reason why Cao Xuan, who had already announced a hiatus and was in a semi-retired state, was willing to participate in this international art project. Different regions, different cultures, but as long as each maintains mutual respect, there are always common grounds.

This is the meaning of cultural exchange.

And the meaning of art itself.

”Turns out I lack enlightenment.”

Cao Xuan smiled helplessly.

Someone said, the core of ”Buddha” lies in breaking the attachment to ”self.”

As someone who, even during rest, is constantly busy and cannot let go of his mind, it should count as a kind of obsession. In the art world, it’s said that ”without madness, there is no life,” what’s true or false, where can it be clearly defined?

Actually, at Elder Cao’s age and position, no outsider can point fingers at him; the only thing that makes him feel restless and dissatisfied, unable to let go for a long time, is himself.

Only the art itself.

The seventeenth mural was a significant reason for his bad mood.

Hundreds of years have passed, with the differences in pigments used by ancient painters and modern painters, and differences in configuration methods.

Not to mention, there are various traces of erosion and weathering caused by the passage of time.

Even using the most modern computer scanning analysis, it’s difficult to avoid subtle changes in color during pigment blending; restoration is very challenging.

In these times, personal experience is more useful.

However, no matter how skilled Elder Cao is, he cannot fully replicate the technique of ancient painters hundreds of years ago, especially in pigment blending.

He can only approach, he can only get infinitely similar but not exactly the same.

Whether in the variation of light and dark colors or the texture of the paint, it’s difficult to match those ancient painters who have secret recipes passed down through generations.

Before starting the project, during the preparation phase, Elder Cao anticipated possible issues through studying scanned photos and several field investigations.

He prepared drafts and several different color mixing schemes based on the photos early on.

Once the mural restoration project truly started, it was still somewhat different from what he expected.

Though such color gradient discrepancies are almost impossible to notice unless observed closely with the naked eye.

But for Elder Cao, different is different.

If he only pursued a rough similarity, there would be no need for him to lead this project.

This made the old man frustrated, early on proposing to come for Buddha worship in the afternoon.

”I hope I will finally have some good luck.”

Cao Xuan thought.