Art Reboot

17 way of knowing. Thus the handscroll is a portal as much as an artwork; a tool for transcending the chattering intellect, a key process of meditational practice. In my view the handscroll is the ultimate visual meditational aid. Its efficacy as a format has been demonstrated to me time and time again. Visitors who see conventional paintings hanging on the walls of my home or studio will barely remember indiv- idual works, but once introduced to a handscroll and encouraged to enjoy it as intended, they invariably remember the experience long afterwards. I own dozens, which I have collected over more than fifty years, and I return to them frequently. It has also be- come a format I favour for my own paintings. One recent example illustrates this nicely. I painted a scroll of rocks and mist, and painted ten figures separately; I frequently use collage with Chinese papers, as I enjoy the sculptural dimen- sion this adds to the process.The scroll was unfurled on the studio floor and the figures were taped to the wall awaiting placement, when an honorary nephew came to dinner to introduce us to his wife. Afterwards I took them to the studio and explained what I was doing. The wife, who was not familiar with handscrolls but as a dancer was immersed in creativity, was fascinated. When I suggested that she might like to place the figures wherever she thought they should go, she completely surprised me. I had failed to explain that a handscroll was a horizontal format; she decided that it was instead a very tall painting, and placed the figures vertically in accordance with her view. She did so with consid- erable compositional skill, and the outcome was so compelling that I bowed to the innocent magic she had introduced. I finished