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indicated in his essay “Juxiang yu chouxiang zhi jian” (2007; tr. “Between Figurative and Abstract,” 2007) in the catalogue for his exhibition held at the Snite Museum of the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, in 2007.
Gao’s relocation to France took place with relative ease. He was fluent in French, and he was reasonably confident that he would be able to earn a livelihood by selling his ink paintings. His techniques are based on those used in Chinese calligraphy and traditional expressive painting, but he has successfully incorporated elements of European oil painting and black-and-white photography: it is texture that fascinates him. An external source of light is essential to producing the textures of oil painting, but because his art depicts images of the inner mind, whatever his mind focuses upon is bathed in light from an internal source. Through the power of suggestion, Gao’s artworks also capture sensuousness and at times movement. Movement in art can of course be captured in his films, which he calls “cinematic poems.” Silhouette/Shadow is shot in colour and allows him to indulge in textures, especially that of old buildings and rubble. This is an autobiographical work that focuses on Gao as artist and play director during 2003, which was designated Gao Xingjian Year by the City of Marseille. The film is unique in that picture, sound, and language components are provided equal status, so that no one component dominates all the time. Each component is allowed to take centre stage while the other two elements act as accompaniments. Footage of natural scenery and the female form is juxtaposed with his paintings, and the likeness is startlingly real. In After the Flood Gao’s black-and-white paintings are projected onto a screen in front of which a team of six male and female performers dance. Speech is dispensed with, and it is solely the movements and gestures—including facial expressions—against the backdrop of the paintings that graphically transmit the sense of abject terror and utter hopelessness when human beings are confronted with large-scale natural disasters.
Whereas his artworks and films are not (or virtually not) language dependent, the larger part of Gao Xingjian’s creative endeavours does