Role In Art art160

     For this piece, I chose Grapes by Xu Wei from page 238 out of the book. When researching him, I found that while he has become generally recognized as one of the masters of Ming dynasty painting, and having inspired a new form of painting, he was relatively unsucessful in life. Many times the value of an artist is not truly known, untill after they are dead as reiterated on pg 40 "There is no artist like a dead artist, some dealers say."
    An excellent and informative site, also much preferable to the unreliable wikipidia, the following shows much of his art, and a brief amount of information.
    http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-xu-wei.php
In his painting Xu Wei introduced a style that means "sketching idea" called xie yi.  It focuses less on detailed depictions and is more abstract. While still representing an image, in this instance grapes, it doesnt try to capture it in almost photographic detail. Rather it lets the viewers mind put the images together. It is an attempt to show the concept or feeling of nature.
     In life, Xu Wei was thought to be bipolar, which was actually a recognized disorder in China at that time. On this site the correlation between creativity and bipolar disorder is discussed.
http://www.manic-depression.net/symptoms/creativity_symptom_of_bipolar_disorder.htm
     Other famous artists with bipolar disorder include but are not limited to, Emily Dickenson, Van Gogh, Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Tim Burton. 
http://www.neurotransmitter.net/bipolarcreativity.html
    When viewing this piece, I was struck by a sense of serenity. The greys and almost bluish tones may seem depressing to some, especially in light of the accompanying poem in calligraphy on the top and to the left on the painting, But one must remember that in expressing their creativity, a person with bipolar disorder often finds a sense of peace, the act of creating is cathartic. In his poem he references being an old man who is alone. This tells me that the piece was most likely painted after the death of his first wife, his murder of his second wife, and his subsequent incarceration and release from prison. As he sold his work to support himself, largely unsucessfully, the poem supports this when he says there is no place for him to sell the "bright pearls from my brush" Most likely the image of grapes itself is not a political statement, but the poem shows him as a percieved failure in life. This is especially poignant as he has become so widely recognized as not only a success but as a Master when dead.