NISKY: Il paradiso non finito

Yifu Liu

March 2025

In his New York solo exhibition II paradiso non finito at Fou Gallery, Shanghai-based Chinese artist NISKY presents ten acrylic paintings on canvas. In these recent works, NISKY pushes the boundaries of “Metacollage,” an aesthetic concept that has been central to his oeuvre. Developed from the theories of Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of the most influential German composers of the 20th century, “Metacollage” aims to weave together the arts from diverse cultures and periods into a universal tapestry of expression. It is a creative process through which distinct art forms are reconfigured and synthesized into a “superior unit,” transcending the respective structures of its elements and thereby achieving “complete osmosis.”

In his pursuit of the universal, NISKY employs the techniques of Surrealist artist Max Ernst and seamlessly blends the visual languages of both Chinese and European landscape paintings. Each work starts with the texture of the painted surface, as fresh layers of pigments are reimagined into foliage, rock cropping, and anthropomorphic shapes. The overall compositions speak to NISKY’s interdisciplinary mastery of art history, music, and literature. These paintings encapsulate the alchemical interaction between Eastern and Western art, underlined by the artist’s contemplation on the harmonious relationship between human and nature.

NISKY’s approach highlights his interest in the granular and viscous properties of the paint. Instead of creating images from preconceived notions, NISKY invites the paint to reveal the form it wants to take. In a typical session, the artist uses tapes to outline irregular areas on the canvas, which he fills with small, overlapping passages of pigments in various shades of green and brown. He then lays a piece of cloth directly onto the wet paint and freely moves his fingernails or small tools across the surface. As he tears the cloth away, the paint is left with unexpected textures of undulating grooves and crates. By observing these random markings attentively, NISKY begins to discern human faces and tree branches, which he brings into sharper relief with more intentional brushstrokes. The materiality of the paint thus guides the artist to the finished image. 

Such methodology recalls the techniques of Max Ernst, known for his use of Frottage, Grattage, and Decalcomania. Characteristic of his work in the 1930s and 40s, such as Europe after the Rain II (1940-42), Ernst produced pullulating landscapes by scraping away or pressing on thick layers of wet paint. The strange patterns served as the basis for Ernst’s outlandish vision. In his own theoretical writing Beyond Painting (1948), Ernst made reference to Leonardo da Vinci, who had praised artists with the disposition to see landscapes in a simple stain or a blotch of color. The association between artistic genius and one’s ability to find meaning in the meaningless was articulated in the Renaissance, solidified by the Surrealists, and is now taken one step further by NISKY’s experimentations. As NISKY asserts, “Art is like solving a mystery. I am trying to excavate the answer, to uncover the truth, from the disordered state of the paint.”

The Ernst-inspired technique is the perfect vehicle for NISKY’s continuing investigation of “Metacollage”. Initially phrased in his solo exhibition Phosphenes in 2017, “Metacollage” has assumed an indispensable role in the evolution of the artist’s career. A singer-songwriter with steady output and a cult following, NISKY has always marveled at Karlheinz Stockhausen’s pioneering work in electronic composition. Stockhausen broke down the barriers among ethnic music genres from China, Peru, Hungary, and so on with an overarching electronic scheme. In the same vein, NISKY attempts to juxtapose a wide range of visual traditions and allow them to flow organically into one another through his manipulation of the paint. He constructs a liminal space in which pictorial motifs and symbols – sometimes similar and sometimes contradicting – oscillate between being recognizable and completely transformed. The ultimate effect, as NISKY puts it, is a sense of universal “nostalgia,” a kind of evocation of the familiar in the face of something new and strange.

“Metacollage” is an all-encompassing framework that does not have a particular visual style, and it constantly shifts according to the elements that the artist chooses to incorporate. In NISKY’s eponymous exhibition in 2020, his paintings are defined by a strong sense of two-dimensionality. This is the result of him mixing pop culture of the 1950s and 60s, Chinoiserie influences, Greek pottery paintings, Han Dynasty portrait stones, African wood carving, and Beijing opera masks. Embellished by reoccurring motifs of sheet music and instruments, these images possess a boldness and graphic quality that draw attention to the flatness of the picture plane. However, as NISKY turns his focus towards landscapes, as is evident in his 2024 exhibition Yesterday’s Letter, the tactility of painting and the theme of nature have become the new frontiers of his exploration.

This pivot originated from NISKY’s encounters with two masterpieces. On the one hand, Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Shu, an exemplary blue-and-green landscape painting attributed to the Tang dynasty, has had a profound impact on NISKY’s work. On the other hand, Procession of the Magi (1459-60) by Benozzo Gozzoli, a fresco that adorns the interior of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence, is equally influential. Created centuries apart on opposite sides of the continent, these works embody the trajectories of two painting traditions. Gozzoli’s depiction of winding paths and lush trees shows the flourishing of naturalistic representation of the external world in the Renaissance. Meanwhile, the bright hues of malachite and azurite, as well as the peculiar geological formations in the Tang-dynasty painting complicate the idea of realism. Whereas the fresco utilizes linear perspective for spatial construction, the Chinese painting relies on shifting viewpoints and negative spaces to create depth. 

These differences quickly dissipate in NISKY’s “Metacollage.” In Sunset Melody, one-point perspective is fractured into intersecting planes that make up mountain peaks and rugged cliffs. NISKY integrates the use of Chinese-style negative space and glazing technique often used in European oil painting, enhancing the sense of depth and volume through both composition and subtle gradience of color. The vertical momentum of the mountains is reminiscent of Emperor Minghuang's Journey to Shu. Yet the chiaroscuro modeling of the draped figure recalls the Italian fresco. From the crinkled green paint emerge leaves and branches, which morph into serpentine human figures. These figures are in turn absorbed into jagged ridges and architectural forms. NISKY challenges the viewer by walking the fine line between the figurative and the abstract. The animated spirit of Chinese brushwork forms a contentious yet intriguing dialogue with the emphasis on verisimilitude in the Renaissance. 

It becomes apparent that NISKY is interested in creating an ideal landscape that glorifies the harmony of the universe. There is no better example of such sentiment than Midsummer Darling, a continuation of his earlier painting The Matters of Life (2023). NISKY dwells on the existence of humans in the boundless, ever-expanding world, and seeks to find the commonality of all things. As summer solstice brings abundance and warmth, tree trunks become the torsos of female nudes; Reclining figures melt into the ground as gentle hills arise; The billowing clouds share the same pattern as waxing tides or the cross section of minerals; planets, faces, bouquets, and bronze vessels are sprinkled across the painting with no correlation to scale. NISKY captures simultaneously the perfection of natural creations and the creative energy of nature itself. Nothing seems out of place, yet everything is always in flux.

For NISKY, an ideal landscape is a kind of utopia where one could find refuge and serenity. Such longing is perhaps the artist’s response to the chaos of the modern age. In Our Ancestors: Family Tree, intertwining figures are set against the backdrop of dense greenery. The pulsating movements of the figures symbolize the arc of human evolution, as we learn to crawl, walk, hunt, and fly. Past, present, and future collapse into one existence, where only the vitality of trees and the grandeur of mountains remain constant. In Changing Lights in the South, NISKY contrasts the pure bliss of the bygone era with the dissolution of modern society. He brings together the scene of the Annunciation and motifs of technology, war, and ancient languages. Similarly, in Star at the Epoch’s End, towering trees grow out of what looks like a space station, which paradoxically features Greco-Roman columns and Han dynasty portrait stones. In the distance, the deep blue tones of the mountains are at once extraterrestrial and suggestive of paradisical realms in Chinese paintings and the Garden of Eden depicted by Hieronymus Bosch. NISKY’s “Metacollage” brings together not only different art forms, but also places, eras, and memories. 

The series takes on a more somber tone as NISKY dwells on the inevitability of death. NISKY’s celebration of nature brings into focus the transience of life on earth. The recent passing of a friend led him to explore what happens after we die. The same visual effects of the surrealist landscape are applied to his depiction of the world beyond in Eternal Amber. Compositionally similar to Star at the Epoch’s End, Out of a Dream aims to capture a fleeting moment in our life as if a still image of a tree swaying in the wind.

AS NISKY “travels” through Chinese and European landscapes, he marks each stop with a name seal in red. He transforms his English pseudonym, which pays homage to filmmakers Federico Fellini and Krzysztof Kieslowski, into a traditional Chinese stamp of authorial signature. It can also be seen as the stamp of the collector, as NISKY has amassed a wealth of pictorial, sonic, and literary inspirations from around the world. Even in such small details, NISKY finds new ways to synthesize cultures and refine his artistic identity. These recent works by NISKY make significant contributions to the growing discourse regarding global art history and cross-cultural exchange. While Chinese artists have always looked to the West and vice versa, the hybridization of images has always been shaped by the geopolitical, economic, and intellectual currents of each generation. We now live in a world that is ever more connected and divisive at the same time. By composing a universal ode to nature, NISKY might have just pointed out a way for us all to move forward.