In my youth I went to America looking for an art teacher who could tell me the truth about Art.
“What is Art?†That was the simple question constantly hovering in my mind. I thought I must seek enlightenment in a less barbaric place than modern China… .
I met many people in the past who claimed to have that Knowledge, but wretchedly none had been able to look me in the eye, and give me the right answer. Yes,–to answer with ULTIMATE certainty,–like pointing to an apple and say it is an apple, or stop at an orange, to say that it is not! My curiosity in ART was therefore a sublime thirst waiting to be quenched!
Thirty-some years later, when that episode of my youth was revisited, I realized that I had been asking for the moon! Well into adulthood, I realized it was truly rare indeed for any youngster on earth,–-especially nowadays,–- to be able to find an art teacher who can tell him what Art is! And if he does chance upon such a “wise man,” the person he encounters would very likely be someone selling snake oils. If the guy can ever be real, then he must be an artistic genius, i.e. one who is awakened to beauty. And the Alpha Seer, or artistic genius, is an extraordinarily enlightened being when it comes to the seeing of greatness in ART!
So when I first met Knox Martin, and when he put ART on my palm saying, †Look, kid, and I can say this is ART…!†I was feeling incredulous and skeptical, and thought the guy too good to be true! â€â€“Probably another one of those snake oils merchants, . . . †I remember saying to myself. And it was true that such teachers were almost all impostors,–or snake oil merchants! And let fabulous truth be told, that situation is no more different nowadays than it was at any other time in the past! The incidence of artistic genius upon billions of human births is extremely rare in the first place! For example, we only had met a handful of such magnificent individuals in the past 200 years,–Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, de Kooning, Gorky,…–and WHO ELSE?
With Pablo Picasso’s passing in 1975, my hope for encountering such an extraordinary person had suddenly become very dim. DeKooning was entrenched in his castle in Long Island and he could never be reached. Miro? Alas! I could not even speak Spanish! The guy probably knows a few things about ART but he had tiny eyes, and hee,… people with such eyes could maintain their silence under torture… . Intuitively, however, I was aware enough to know that only an artistic genius holds the key to ART! Even though I was quite young at that point, I was able to trust my intuition completely on that matter.
My intuition informed me that any trained monkey can hold up a brush, and with the correct program of training, he can just as easily, splash quick paint on a canvas in primate manner! Look, I must keep track of any deal that I would sign myself into, and I must seriously weigh the pros and cons of any professional choice that I might be making, e.g. whether or not becoming an artist was a good idea for someone in my situation. Listen: my Dad had to work very hard in order to help me study abroad, so squandering such valiant support was not an option!
Little did I expect to have the good fortune in encountering a superstar proven to outshine them all, and oh, Knox Martin the superstar was so brilliant!
In the summer of 1975, a lazy afternoon sun had generously directed my gaze upon a most beautiful painting on display in a showcase window upon the facade of the ASL*building in New York City (Figure 1). * ASL is short for Art Students League
Figure 1: Awesome Knox Martin “Smiling Womanâ€
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As if my spirit was suddenly awakened and its long lost artistic passion recaptured, my attention frenzy-fed on the painting like sharks in the froths of fury,– and in just a few moments the Armageddon had gotten into the painting’s very marrow… . For many months thereafter, I simply could not resist its charm, nor could I withdraw my attention from that happy revelation. One must admit this: never before had I seen a work more beautiful, more worthy of looking, and more often of such integrity and dignity, coming of the genius of Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso or deKooning! What a perfect, powerful enchanter of the Soul! Even though I could hardly be called an “enlightened†art student at that point, my intuitions nevertheless had told me I was staring into something extraordinary! Then its signature would reveal to me it was by the same guy who had earlier tried to sell me his “snake oilsâ€. “”Snake oils” my arse!!!!!†As if in a flash, I’d got myself enrolled in his class… . Anyone who could offer that fabulous pot of honey,– are you kidding?–- had got to know what ART is!
Had I not come here to America, all the way from China, putting my Dad in heavy debt and all,… in order to discover such a fine teacher? My eyes gazed upon the Pacific, then the Atlantic,–- then they scaled the good Heaven and the revolving Earth,-– and delightfully had I asked those sullen things if they had already detected many such teachers, beckoning me to join their art courses… . But they had sadly responded in the negative! So without hesitation I darted back to my “snake oils merchant,” whom I had almost insulted, given the fact that I was a relentless user of the rude Cantonese dialect, which boasts some of the foulest languages in the world… .
Looking back, I can now gently tell you what Knox actually is!
A Thunder God, a Thunder God!–Oh, such a Thunder God!
–One so badly, and utterly, misunderstood,– is Knox Martin…!
Intuitively, I knew I had come to the end of my search: I had found the teacher who would give you an apple, and he would point to it, and tell you that it is the apple; then he would put ART on your palm, pointing to it, and with great clarity, inform you that it is ART ! Whenever his eyes would gaze upon the effort of the impostors, the misbegotten ones such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock, or Cy Twombly… ,– Oh, would Knox then explode, in nuclear fashion, †MA’FOCKING SH-T!â€
How often in life can a young fellow be honored with such good fortune? One sought, one found, and conquered had one! I had sought Beauty like a pilgrim, wandered to world’s end and saw the Holy Land, and the ultimate conquest had I made! My life would never be the same again. I would never be in want! The Shrine of Beauty was standing right in front of me, all of that had so suddenly become realized in one marvelous, mystical, and magical afternoon! I had found my “ Snake Oils†merchant who is capable of telling me what Art is, and with such certainty! Alas, “Snake oils†no more!–- but rather, St.Peter in his glorious regalia ,–all Halo, all Bach, and sweet, soft oily perfume to gently massage the fatigued fibers of my soul…! A Thunder God suddenly revealed himself and poured forth such impeccable, sweet music,– sweeter than the Persian Songbird,–and Maria Calla far less charming,–- right there in the deep dark forest of Concrete Manhattan!
Ah, Manhattan,– all along had I thought the sun would never rise beyond thy dungeon of a dragon’s belly! How wrong can it be !
How on earth could all of that happiness suddenly come within my grasp? May the truth be told: I was really not altogether a blind bat then. True, I was quite insolent, audacious, a young bull filled to the rim with anger and angst,– but the Lau family, as a tribe, could still go back to three generations of great calligraphers in the recent past.There was indeed something in my genes to aid me in this preliminary recognizance of the incredible creative genius that is in Knox Martin.
Over the next two years hence, I would be studying painting with the fabulous Knox Martin! In time, he had become my mentor, and a virtual father upon whom I often sought spiritual guidance. Knox Martin’s generosity in dispensing the Sublime Knowledge of Composition and Poetry was inexhaustible, but he was also so modest, so passionate and unpretentious,– a man of great humor,– a man for all seasons!
Two years later, Master Martin would take me aside and firmly inform me that I could return to China if that was my choice, since I had already learned everything about ART! Others, who were the uninitiated, but well within ear-shots of that joyful tiding, might have wondered what was going on. But it was such a strange episode in my youth, and I alone was privy to the secret of what Knox really meant. Ah! I could even touch that happiness with my own fingers. What a joy to receive your graduation DIPLOMA from the hand of a super-creator in Humanity!
But the deeper underlying truth is:
I had found out what ART is!
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And that was Knox Martin’s legacy; Master Knox Martin at his best: kind, generous, gallant, honest, full of humor, modest, unpretentious, and sincere–- Knox is singularly one of a kind!
That being said, I can inform you now, with the blessings and the supreme privilege of an Alpha Seer, that Knox Martin is above everything else, the greatest painter who had ever breathed this air on Planet Earth! Even in the midst of all the splendor of Ancient China, Egypt or Greece, the brilliance of his aura remains undimmed!
Please pardon me if I have seemed somewhat flushed with enthusiasm in reporting this good fortune discovered in one of the strangest episodes of my youth. But the truth is, anyone with the privilege to be in association with this superstar, culminating in the recognizance of his genius,–one just cannot possibly measure such a young man for the volume of his infinite joy…!
You truly have to be someone with an Alpha Seer’s vision, if that is ever possible, to be fully appreciative of that happiness.
Ben Lau       2006 Spring
