Totem! The Art of Faith

The chasm between the mind and the world is but a thought away, a fleeting mental image, eternally wavering between reality and nature, belonging neither to the tangible realm nor to natural apparitions. Our "mental images" endeavor to unveil the truth of reality, approximating the likeness of nature, yet perpetually oscillating between the two. This undulation has shaped our boundless universe of imagery, becoming our guide in the pursuit of truth. Within this guide, art manifests in its unique form, concealing its origins.

The book "Totem! The Art of Faith" is a collaborative effort between myself and my doctoral students, Aixin Zhang and Zhiheng Su. Utilizing both visual and textual dimensions, we analyze early human totem civilizations and reflect on the origin of non-technical wizard imagery. This investigation seeks to uncover the mysterious circumstances and new potentialities for willful freedom in contemporary art. Through historical study, we juxtapose today's civilization and human psyche with the primitive, ignorant tribal eras, or the early formation of communities. This exploration offers intriguing insights into the spiritual evolution and aesthetic inheritance of humans, their relationship with nature, others, and their own selves, thereby tracing the primal longing for divine tension in art. Moreover, we connect this with our current perceptions and the will of our civilization, pursuing the mystical aspects of art in its past, present, and future incarnations.

These are the initial intentions of the book and the research topic of "Contemporary Speculation on Totem Art".