Two Brushes

It is always an auspicious event when one gets to view a documentary with the documentarian in the room, if for no other reason, the filmmaker can provide the context so often lacking in this art form. That is not to say film needs context, in fact most great works of art can "speak for themselves" or "stand alone" if you will. However, most good documentaries provoke a viewer (an inquiring mind) into asking questions; questions about the content of the film, or even questions about the process of making the film in general. Two Brushes is an award-winning short documentary film made by Chera Kee and Helen Stone. Only C. Kee was present at the screening, as H. Stone lives in China.

The film was a part of an overseas collaboration project between two Universities (one in the States and the other in China) where each student was paired with an an individual from the other University. Chera Kee was paired with Helen Stone in the summer of 2006 in Beijing, China where the two produced a short film about a well known Beijing artist, Duan Zhengqu.

The title, Two Brushes, is an expression in Chinese. To say that someone has two brushes is to say that they have talent. The title was duplicitous in its nomenclatural nature because of the way it described Duan Zhengqu, and also served as a metaphor for the filmmakers collaboration. They were each a brush coming together in the end to make a solid documentary.

Hearing Chera Kee's side of the story, provided a lesson in the art of filmmaking in general. The two filmmakers apparently did not get along until the end of the production when they realized they actually had a great project, as Chera Kee said, "tends to smooth over any personality situation." Focusing on Duan Zhengqu, a modern artist known for his Western style of paint, the two saw the artist in very different ways. Stone being native to Beijing, insisted on Duan Zhengqu's being a "villager" while Kee's impression was that he was a "modern" man. The argument between the two provided the investigatorial template for the film.

Through scrutinizing his "modern" artwork, Chera Kee was able to see his calligraphic influence coming through. This is where the editing of the film was most affective, showing his calligraphy and then close ups of the bold brush strokes in his modern paintings, mimicking those of his calligraphy. Shots of Duan Zhengqu, and his entourage living in Beijing were quite convincing of his modernity; he lived in a multimillion dollar flat and was constantly on his cell-phone or computer. Stone saw through the modern setting of his Beijing flat, and was convinced by the cultural subtlelties only someone grown up in China would pick up on. He was a villager because of "the way he smoked his cigarettes" and "the way his shoulders were crouched." In the seminal scene of the documentary, the filmmakers confronted him about their inquiry, and he declared himself to be a villager at heart.

The questions that were being asked in this film were having to do with modernity. When confronted with this word "modern," both the Chinese people involved were at a standstill. In their view, Duan Zhengqu was a villager, and therefore not modern. In Kee's view, he was the epitome of modern. So, in the end, the viewer is left with the ultimate answer, which is a typical postmodern theme, one of multiplicitous or fractured identity. Just like two brushes representing the two filmmakers that came together to make one film, two identities, "modern" and "villager" are embodied by Duan Zhengqu. This notion is especially, and more graphically displayed in his art.

cheers

Two Brushes (Chera Kee and Helen Stone, 2006).