PRINTCatalogue Note:
WHAT SHALL I SAY OF THE GREAT PEAK
THE ANCIENT DUKEDOMS ARE EVERYWHERE GREEN,
INSPIRED AND STIRRED BY THE BREATH OF CREATION,
WITH THE TWIN FORCES BALANCING DAY AND NIGHT.
I BARE MY BREAST TOWARD OPENING CLOUDS,
I STRAIN MY SIGHT AFTER BIRDS FLYING HOME.
WHEN SHALL I REACH THE TOP AND HOLD
ALL MOUNTAINS IN A SINGLE GLANCE?
- Du Fu, A View Of Taishan
Liu Kuo-Sung founded the Fifth Moon Group in 1956, widely publicising a call to 'overturn the centre tip' in modern ink painting theory, which became the focus of a heated debate in the art world. Liu promoted the incorporation of Western concepts as the aesthetic foundations for ink painting, and he used abstraction as a means to escape the visual experiences of the past. He transcended nature's representations by depicting free-spirited beauty, thereby making his subject eternal. Commenting on Liu Kuo-Sung’s work, writer Yu Kwang-chung once wrote, His paintings have their own orbit, so full of vitality to have taken on their own endlessly vicious, unbearable life of a sort that goes on and on with neither beginning nor end, and it constantly draws us in.
The piece “Mountain Ranges” is one of Liu Kuo-Sung’s later works, depicting a stroll through vast, smoky waters, gazing at a world without bounds. It exemplifies Liu Kuo-Sung’s purified approach to the natural landscape, each external feature simplified into geometric shapes, and his method of emboldened texturing gives the scene a beautiful, skin-like appearance. An ‘Eastern consciousness’ is embodied in Liu Kuo-Sung’s artwork, and a deep understanding of life is vividly portrayed through his use of the brush. Abstraction is used as a means to escape the visual experiences of the past. And through his depictions of a freespirited beauty, representations of nature are transcended and made eternal. Liu Kuo-Sung’s innovative ‘Ripping the Tendons and Peeling the Skin’ technique enriches the context of the painting and turns the world of landscapes into a part of the self. Exemplary of the artist’s truly unique approach, the technique displayed in this work has also become widely known as the ‘Liu Kuo-Sung Style’ of abstract landscape painting.
Liu Kuo-Sung has applied his unique techniques for depicting the visual structures of landscapes to all kinds of vast and striking terrains. Without the goal of objective reproduction factoring into his practice, he finds ways to play with the ink so that the abstract forms subtly express the heartfelt emotion Liu puts into his work. At the same time, the natural landscape takes on its own subjective conscious — a self-expressive feeling that balances the internal with the external and sings an eternal melody for human life. More indirectly, there is also a certain implication of a Chinese cultural ethics that can be found in Liu's work — an understanding of the circle of life present in his art practice. Beyond this spiritual nature of the work, there is also a manifest sentiment for the tradition of Chinese ink painting reproduced through Liu Kuo-Sung's innovative techniques, which so lucidly bring out the majestic beauty of the natural landscape.
THE ANCIENT DUKEDOMS ARE EVERYWHERE GREEN,
INSPIRED AND STIRRED BY THE BREATH OF CREATION,
WITH THE TWIN FORCES BALANCING DAY AND NIGHT.
I BARE MY BREAST TOWARD OPENING CLOUDS,
I STRAIN MY SIGHT AFTER BIRDS FLYING HOME.
WHEN SHALL I REACH THE TOP AND HOLD
ALL MOUNTAINS IN A SINGLE GLANCE?
- Du Fu, A View Of Taishan
Liu Kuo-Sung founded the Fifth Moon Group in 1956, widely publicising a call to 'overturn the centre tip' in modern ink painting theory, which became the focus of a heated debate in the art world. Liu promoted the incorporation of Western concepts as the aesthetic foundations for ink painting, and he used abstraction as a means to escape the visual experiences of the past. He transcended nature's representations by depicting free-spirited beauty, thereby making his subject eternal. Commenting on Liu Kuo-Sung’s work, writer Yu Kwang-chung once wrote, His paintings have their own orbit, so full of vitality to have taken on their own endlessly vicious, unbearable life of a sort that goes on and on with neither beginning nor end, and it constantly draws us in.
The piece “Mountain Ranges” is one of Liu Kuo-Sung’s later works, depicting a stroll through vast, smoky waters, gazing at a world without bounds. It exemplifies Liu Kuo-Sung’s purified approach to the natural landscape, each external feature simplified into geometric shapes, and his method of emboldened texturing gives the scene a beautiful, skin-like appearance. An ‘Eastern consciousness’ is embodied in Liu Kuo-Sung’s artwork, and a deep understanding of life is vividly portrayed through his use of the brush. Abstraction is used as a means to escape the visual experiences of the past. And through his depictions of a freespirited beauty, representations of nature are transcended and made eternal. Liu Kuo-Sung’s innovative ‘Ripping the Tendons and Peeling the Skin’ technique enriches the context of the painting and turns the world of landscapes into a part of the self. Exemplary of the artist’s truly unique approach, the technique displayed in this work has also become widely known as the ‘Liu Kuo-Sung Style’ of abstract landscape painting.
Liu Kuo-Sung has applied his unique techniques for depicting the visual structures of landscapes to all kinds of vast and striking terrains. Without the goal of objective reproduction factoring into his practice, he finds ways to play with the ink so that the abstract forms subtly express the heartfelt emotion Liu puts into his work. At the same time, the natural landscape takes on its own subjective conscious — a self-expressive feeling that balances the internal with the external and sings an eternal melody for human life. More indirectly, there is also a certain implication of a Chinese cultural ethics that can be found in Liu's work — an understanding of the circle of life present in his art practice. Beyond this spiritual nature of the work, there is also a manifest sentiment for the tradition of Chinese ink painting reproduced through Liu Kuo-Sung's innovative techniques, which so lucidly bring out the majestic beauty of the natural landscape.