Returning to original nature

The painting is inscribed with a title: 'yeluo guigen' which literary means that, when a leaf falls, it returns to its root, suggesting the implication of a thing returning to its original nature. It is followed by the date and the artist’s signature: ‘painted in the year of 'jashen' (2004) by Yihe’. There are three seals: ‘Yuanqi (‘the rise or beginning of causations of events)’, ‘Shenshi (the painter’s family name)’ and ‘Foxin (‘the heart-mind of a Buddhist)’.

‘A contemplative scene is created by what appears to be two leaves falling towards the circle at the bottom of the painting. The artist has painted the leaves very quickly with a configuration of spontaneous and subtle abstract brushwork. The circle is painted or drawn in one beautifully executed anti-clockwise brushstroke. This painting is evocative of a quiet, calm scene of the moon in reflection. The leaves are reminiscent of bats flying above the moon.’ (Mae Anna Pang, 'Moon in the Reflection: The Art of Kim Hoa Tram', Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria, 2008, fig. 15, and p. 42).

Asian Art Department, AGNSW, June 2009.