Innocence in plain art

The purpose of the class is to draw as one wishes in whatever way intended. There is no teaching of any specific skills or techniques because students are not taught how to draw. Chang merely guides them while encouraging them and providing feedback on aspects that can be improved. There are no regulations in how one chooses to draw--as long as one draws from the heart, without judgments or restrictions, and feels happy in doing so.

Chang often compares the ability to draw in this way to the way children draw--simple and carefree, without any compulsions to draw realistically. They simply convey whatever is in their hearts. As early as age two, children can already doodle to express themselves. Chang explains that this natural ability is gradually suppressed as children are exposed to standards in school regarding how art should be portrayed. Parents often think that children must go to art school in order to learn how to create professional art. Adults may also misunderstand and reject children’s drawings, dismissing them as amateur or rubbish. Thus, the innocent quality in children’s drawings is gradually lost in more mature art forms.

Chang believes that everyone has the instinct to draw. He notes how mankind communicated through pictographic forms in the very beginning. In ancient China, for example, to express the moon, people drew a curve to depict its shape. It was natural for people to communicate in this way. Throughout different parts of the world, archaeologists have found artifacts and primitive signs in caves and other places showing evidence of the use of drawings before language. People have the instinct to communicate through drawing. But after words were invented, art became a secondary form of communication that was eventually consigned to art school professionalism. The instinct to draw became less important as improvements came about in civilization.

In the art world, Chang has heard many different claims and theories about beauty. Throughout his own training, he kept searching for an answer to the question, “What is beautiful?” But he never found one that satisfied him. He did not agree with what others, including his professors, peers, and scholars, said about beauty and art. He also did not join any art circles or cliques because he felt that the people in them could be very superficial: they often harbored negative feelings towards each other because of jealousy, envy, and competition.

Chang feels that art should be based on drawing to one’s content and expressing happiness. Spirit and attitude, along with morality and ethics, are important to him in art. For example, if someone is praised for his artwork but does not have the right spirit or heart in doing it, Chang will not see his art as beautiful. If someone draws something considered ugly by others but has joy and spirit while doing it, he appreciates and admires the person for drawing it. To him, internal beauty counts more than external beauty.

Chang’s class on “Plain Art” tries to foster the instinct to draw and encourages people to feel and express happiness through drawing. There are no rules or regulations regarding the art form. Everything is merely free style. Chang says paradoxically, “Freedom is the rule.” Through his experiences in the art world, Chang went from a state of freedom to a state of rules and regulations and then back to a state of freedom again. However, he feels that regulations in art have their advantages as well. Those who don’t know about freedom in art can learn to appreciate it more by experiencing those regulations.

In his life, Chang has been doing art for over 40 years now. He went in a big circle, starting with his drawings as a child, going through classes, art training, and professional development, and then coming back to the kind of art he did as a child. In the end, he discovered, it still came down to creating his own art and expressing himself freely even with restrictions and regulations. But most people never do this, because they end up focusing so much on the rules that they limit themselves from expressing what they truly want. The purpose of his class is to express one’s own art, to open one’s heart to communicating freely.

“After returning to innocence in art,” explains Chang, “one can express everything freely. Freedom is experienced differently by each person.”

Inspired by a teacher

Chang grew up in the countryside in Yuanlin, Changhua County. When he was seven years old, his first-grade teacher became the first and most important person to inspire him on the path to art. One time in art class, the students had to pick either a brown-colored horse or a zebra to draw. Almost the entire class, 59 out of 60 students, drew the horse because it was easier to draw and color. Chang was the exception.

His teacher immediately praised him, telling him how different and special his drawing was, and posted the picture on the bulletin board for everyone to see. After that, Chang liked to draw and did it every day. He pursued art as a child by learning on his own and observing others’ drawings. Throughout school, he had no art classes, because none were offered until he went to college.

After doing his compulsory military service and getting married, he attended an art college, formerly known as the National Taiwan College of Arts (now a university), where he started to learn art theory. While in college, he came to realize more and more how difficult it was to become a professional artist. So he took up work that would involve art instead.

He worked for an advertisement company and also did some design work. He would work during the daytime and go to classes at night. While working for the company and also doing some work in printing, Chang was able to utilize his talents and interest in art through business design. Work and college provided him with two different ways of looking at art: one was more practical (daily use and application in business and society), and the other was more theoretical or academic (learning different art styles in school).

Chang gained much social experience through his work. After settling down and beginning to support and raise his family, Chang was satisfied with his life and felt he could begin paying back to society through volunteer and charity work. He wanted to contribute himself because he felt grateful for having received the fruits of his labor. He was almost 40 when he became involved with Tzu Chi.

Starting from candles

In 1983, Tzu Chi held its first fundraiser to build the Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital. Chang first learned of Tzu Chi through a newspaper article that described a Buddhist nun who wanted to build a hospital. “We’re building a hospital, not a temple,” said the nun, Master Cheng Yen. Chang was moved by this statement and felt that the Master was innovative in her thinking. He wanted to help her, so he went to the fundraiser in Taipei and decided to buy a drawing of a buddha that cost NT$5,000 (US$125) to help support the cause. But he hadn’t brought enough money with him--he only had NT$2,000 on the spot. A Tzu Chi commissioner told him that she would go to his home the next day and collect the rest of the money. (NT$5000 was considered a lot back then, and the commissioner was willing to go out of her way to collect the money.)

Just as she had said, the commissioner showed up at his home, which moved Chang a second time. The commissioner began chatting with Chang and asked him what he did for a living. She also saw some candles in his home.

Chang and his brother were selling candles at the time. They made their own candles and came up with unique and beautiful designs for them. The commissioner was impressed and wanted to learn more about how they made the candles. Master Cheng Yen and the Tzu Chi nuns were also making candles for a living, but they used a very crude and difficult method to make them: they would pour hot wax into small plastic beverage bottles, and then they would split open the bottles before the wax completely cooled, although they often burned their fingers in the process.

Chang told the commissioner that he used machines to make his candles. He empathized with the nuns, knowing that their method was too slow and arduous. The commissioner conveyed this knowledge to the Master, who was surprised and enthusiastic about the prospect of using machines to make candles. Immediately afterwards, Chang received a call informing him that the Master wanted to meet him in person. They met just two days later.

When Chang told the Master that he would soon be visiting his candle factory, she immediately asked if she could go with him. Chang was astounded by her courage and determination--she was willing to do such a thing not long after meeting him. He agreed, feeling that the Master knew how to seize every moment and make the most of every opportunity.

The man behind the curtains

Upon walking into any Tzu Chi branch office today, one may see the Tzu Chi foundation logo and certain products on display, including bean powder drink mixes, bookmarks, and tape cassettes for sale. All of these have at least one thing in common--the man behind the artwork.

Since Chang did design and printing at work, he was able to contribute his artistic knowledge and talents to Tzu Chi. He designed and created the current packaging and wrapping of several Tzu Chi products. One prominent example is the bean powder drink mixes currently sold in three flavors (Job’s tears, Job’s tears bean, and multi-grain). Originally, Tzu Chi used clear plastic wrapping to package the drink mixes--very plain and unattractive with little value attached to them. When Chang designed the packaging, he established a professional and appealing look for the products to entice more people. He also helped design the coverlets for various tape cassettes and devised the artwork for other products as well.

Chang became involved with another facet of Tzu Chi: the revision of the logo. He designed the current foundation logo seen today. Originally, the logo was of a multi-colored boat, which Chang felt was very complicated and unclear in meaning. He wanted to make it simpler, so the logo went through three stages before its current design--from colored to green to all blue now.

Chang recommended the use of different logos for each of the four missions of Tzu Chi: charity, medicine, education, and culture. After coming up with various designs, the Master selected four that she was satisfied with. Chang thus created the four current mission logos seen today.

Chang’s involvement with Tzu Chi did not end here. He continues to work behind the scenes as the man responsible for the artistic planning and organization of various displays, exhibitions, and events for Tzu Chi. He has been involved with the interior and exterior placement, artistic design, and decorative aspects of several events. For example, every year Tzu Chi holds an end-of-the-year ceremony at various branch offices throughout the country. Chang has put together and organized the artistic design and decorative placement of the event at the Taipei branch office, which has often served as the model for other offices to follow. Other examples include the artistic planning of events at the Tzu Chi Hsintien and Dalin Hospitals, the creation of Tzu Chi parade floats, and the exterior design of certain aspects of the Taipei branch office building and its Buddha hall.

Chang has been working quietly behind the curtains at Tzu Chi for more than 20 years now. He takes delight in being able to contribute his art know-how to so many aspects of the foundation. He also finds joy in volunteering and helping as a veteran member of the Tzu Cheng Faith Corps, an organization for men dedicated to the work of the foundation. While serving humbly, Chang has learned quite a lot from the foundation and from his interactions with various Tzu Chi members. Although he appears to be quite active, he also spends a considerable amount of time on the home front fostering his personal interests in art and in teaching others.

What is beauty?

In 1987, Chang continued his interest in art by teaching art classes to children at home. While Chang was teaching them, he discovered that genuine beauty was natural and simple, as seen in qualities expressed through children’s drawings. What Chang learned in school was different from his own experiences of what beauty was. He found that beauty could be seen in children’s drawings, in the art of primitive peoples and cultures, and in nature itself.

After entering Tzu Chi and learning more about Buddhism, Chang found that beauty came from the heart. He quoted Master Cheng Yen: “When the heart is beautiful, everything appears to be beautiful.” What one sees as beautiful depends on one’s own feelings. Chang discovered that there was no such thing as absolute beauty. It all depended on one’s personal conceptions. Many things are seen from an “I,” one’s own views. As Chang read the Buddhist sutras, he was able to free himself from dualistic concepts of beauty.

At Tzu Chi, Chang feels that the Master’s teachings encourage people to return to their inner state, removing all external things layer by layer, until they reach the core or essence of it all. Chang compares one’s heart to lazurite, a mineral that is clear and unpolluted. One’s heart can only become clean after removing layer upon layer of worldly attachments and pollution.

He saw the idea of innocence reflected in the sutras--being true to one’s essence, without pollution, without flaws. Afterwards, he realized that there was a similar quality in children’s drawings. He also saw the same qualities in the art of elderly people. Chang notes how a few well-known, elderly Taiwanese artists have expressed these qualities in their art. In their old age, their works have gone through a transition to become more innocent and authentic--brave and bold strokes, making complicated things more simple--compared to what they did while younger.

Chang had a direct experience through an experiment with his own mother, Chang Liu-yueh, who is over 80 years old. In 2001, Chang set up an art contest at Tzu Chi for children, parents, and elderly people. He wanted his mother to participate, because he had encouraged other families to do so. Having no art background and little education, Chang’s mother drew for the first time there. To his amazement, her drawing showed the innocent qualities he saw in children’s drawings. She was a test to see whether anyone at any age could draw. Chang found proof and evidence through his own mother. (Mrs. Chang has done over 60 drawings now, which have been on exhibit in different places in Taipei over the past year.)

After gaining this inspiration, Chang decided to set up the class on “Plain Art” to promote the spirit of innocence which he had discovered in his work with children and his mother. He was once invited to give a lecture on the Tzu Chi Great Love TV channel. There he explained the concept of “Plain Art” by using his mother as an example of how anyone can draw.

For Chang, teaching drawing to his mother has been a way of showing his respect and care for her. His mother has become happier and more relaxed in her life since she took up drawing. Chang chuckles, “On any day she draws, she’s able to sleep better that night. Drawing for her is like taking sleeping pills.”

Art therapy

That same year, in 2001, Chang was asked by a member of the Tzu Chi Collegiate Youth Association to volunteer to teach art to hospital patients. He accepted and thus took up the opportunity to work with mentally ill patients at Taipei Chunghsing Hospital for the past three years.

Through his experiences with these patients, he has seen how art can serve as a therapeutic method. He uses his experiences with kids to teach art to patients. For example, he doesn’t teach children how to draw but rather helps them to develop interest, happiness, concentration, observation, and imagination. Children’s art aims to inspire and give rise to imagination and creation. Art therapy is similar in its approach: to help patients cultivate an interest in art and provide them with a way to release their negative pressure.

Every time he teaches these patients, Chang finds the results to be rather positive or encouraging. He usually teaches 10 to 20 patients who have mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc. From their drawings, Chang sees how many of these patients, in fact, have innocent hearts like children and are simpler than most average people. He believes that they have not learned how to cope with problems in society, so they have developed illnesses from inappropriate ways of dealing with such problems. In essence, though, they are still like children, harmless and innocent, even though society has put negative labels and stereotypes on them.

Most of the patients in the hospital become more stable after taking medication. Those who are involved in drawing have already taken medication to the point that their brains have been greatly affected. Their reactions are much slower, as if they were numb, because the medication has suppressed or destroyed certain aspects of their normal day-to-day functioning. Chang explains that they are as innocent as children but lack the intelligence and witty spark; they have no spirit, and they also lack patience and endurance. After about half an hour, they start losing their concentration. Ultimately though, art therapy helps provide them with another way to calm themselves down for a period of time outside of medication.

Art is like spiritual cultivation. One’s emotions and state of mind can be seen in one’s art. Chang believes that “Plain Art” matches well with Tzu Chi. Through his art, he has experienced many things described by Master Cheng Yen. The Master often says, “Just do it,” to encourage Tzu Chi members to action. Chang has surely taken this to heart in his art.