Welcome to no. 63 in our series Poignant Pics, where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about two images by Jona Yip.

“With creating, we are literally bringing something into existence that didn’t exist before.”
– Montana Dennis

The multi-media artist Jessica Stockholder said, "Looking at younger artists, like Varda Caivano and Kerstin Bratsch, I see that their work has something in common that is new to my generation. There's an effort to value the evidence of the hand and the handmade thing while also acknowledging the way in which the making of things with hands has such a complex, alienated place in our culture." In my outlook on the world and art, this series of works called Shan Shui by Jonas Yip well-illustrates that quote. I'm presenting two of these works here.

The title Shan Shui references a Chinese painting style that originated in the Liu Song dynasty, which these works emulate but do not copy. Shan Shui paintings, unlike Western landscape paintings, have no fixed perspective. According to scholar Richard Maeda (as quoted in New World Encyclopedia), Ch'eng Hsi described Shan Shui as "Painting which goes against the common definition of what a painting is. Shan Shui painting refutes color, light and shadow, and personal brush work. Shan Shui painting is not an open window for the viewer's eye, it is an object for the viewer's mind. Shan Shui painting is more like a vehicle of philosophy."

To fully grasp all the references in Yip’s works, it is helpful to know more about this form of painting. I found some concise but detailed and valuable info on Wikipedia here.

I'm well aware that numerous artists work with instant film manipulation, that experimentation with this has been around as long as any form of instant film has. But with this series, Yip has shown us something different than we usually find in this style of photographic imagery. No lens created any part of the image. These works come only from a combination of ambient light and his hands as he explores the materiality of the emulsion and the boundaries of photographic processes. Yip manually worked each image in stages over time rather than all at once, stating that he captures "movement and gesture, recording evidence of the artist's hand, ultimately finding expression in the collision of light, chemicals, film, and physical manipulation."

Yip told me, "Shan Shui is a series of evocative, abstract mountain- and cloud-scapes, organic and layered, reminiscent of Chinese Shan Shui landscapes." Emphasizing expression rather than representation, classical Chinese landscape paintings capture essence and rhythm and reveal the artist's inner landscape, which Yip was doing here.

Yip was raised by an art historian mother and a writer/poet/professor dad. I find reference to his family upbringing comes through in all his work. I chose these two, but honestly, I could have also selected work from any of his series. I urge you to look at the entirety of his various bodies of work, as well. His work exudes thoughtfulness and sensitivity. It appears to be the formation of Yip's entire oeuvre. 

These two images are beautiful; for me, they do also reveal his inner landscape, at least to the extent I know him as a person.

Bravo, Jonas! I look forward to seeing what you do next with your always intriguing photographic work. 

Artist Bio

Jonas Yip is a photographic artist based in Los Angeles. He has published two books, Somewhere Between (2017) and Paris: Dialogues and Meditations (2008), in collaboration with renowned poet and scholar Wai-lim Yip. A related exhibition, Paris: Dialogue, traveled through Asia and was also shown at the San Diego Museum of Art. Jonas’s work is in the permanent collections of the San Diego Museum of Art, the National Museum of Chinese Literature in Beijing, and the California Museum of Photography in Riverside, CA, as well as numerous private collections. More information and news is available at jonasyip.com.

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.