At the juncture of the 20th and 21st centuries, contemporary Chinese art swept the global art scene for the first time and became widely acclaimed throughout the world. A group of Chinese artists who graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute constituted the main force that drove the conceptual and formal reforms of Chinese art. From Scar Art in the 1980s to Cynical Realism and Political Pop that subsequently astounded the Western art collector circles, contemporary Chinese art won the world’s attention with its sharp criticisms and unmistakable symbols. Amidst the overwhelming trend, however, Zhou Chunya chose not to drift along but firmly held onto his own beliefs. While Pop art prevailed among his fellow artists, Zhou remained in Germany and pursued expressionist techniques which resonated closer to his heart and expressed abundant emotional experience. When contemporary social phenomena became a popular subject matter in the art circle, he delved into Chinese ink wash. His works focus more on personal enthusiasms than responses to and criticisms of social and environmental issues, making him a unique, talented and notable figure in the surging waves of contemporary Chinese art.

After graduating from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Zhou went to Germany in 1986 to study at the Kunsthochschule Kassel (Art University Kassel) and personally experienced the waves of Neo Expressionism at the time. The emotions exuded through the rough brushstrokes of Georges Baselitz, Sigmar Polke and Anselm Kiefer were passionate and powerful, which happened to fulfill Zhou’s ideals of a proper artistic language. Since then, Zhou has painted mountains and rocks, flowers, dogs, human figures and, more recently, peach blossoms. Despite the variety in topic and content, however, he always conveyed strong but subtle emotions through his bold brushstrokes and contrasting color arrangement, the artistic style in many ways manifesting his perceptiveness at heart. On the other hand, Zhou was deeply attracted to traditional Chinese art. Upon his return to China in 1989, when other Chinese artists enthusiastically participated in art movements, Zhou plunged into the world of traditional ink wash and literati aesthetics. He praised Shi Tao, Bada Shenran and Huang Binhong; he studied Dong Qichang, the Four Wangs of early Qing Dynasty (Wang Shimin, Wang Jian, Wang Hui and Wang Yuanqi) and Jieziyuan Huapu (Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden). He drew inspiration from the spirit of traditional literati art embodied in ink wash paintings, and by combing them with the expressionist language originating from Europe, shaped his own artistic vocabularies and cultural perspectives, which conveyed the artist’s profound and sincere emotions.

Zhou Chunya composed a series of paintings featuring unusual rocks, in which he inherited the aesthetic tradition of rock collectors in valuing “strangeness” and “peculiarity” through strong and emotional expressions in oil paint. Painted in 1999, “Red Rock” was constructed by brushstrokes of heavy red and dark black. Instead of showing the distinct contours of the rock, the artist depicted multiple dimensions revealed through overlapping colors, as though carefully carving out every bulge, hollow and detail on his canvas. And thus, the solid composition of the rock was clearly presented, as are its sharp, rugged surface and giant, weighty volume. Some dry brush strokes create a forcefulness that reminds viewers of the “flying white” in ink wash. Unspeakable but naked desire flows amidst the bright scarlet red. The black strokes vary from airy as smoke to sharp as knives. A touch of evasive blue adds a captivating charm to the supposedly still and solid rock, which becomes vivid as though a living organism. In the heavy, scarlet sky, dark red paint spreads over the canvas like wash of ink, as though foreseeing a coming storm and adding a rich theatrical effect to the whole artwork.

Zhou once said, “I painted on stones not for considerations of graphics or signs, merely for interests. I liked forms of stones by ancient literators, but was not content with the overly mild and introverted personality. So I thought about a kind of risky attempt, rely this kind of elegant form to convey a kind of violent even erotic meaning.” (Zhou Chunya 2008. Taipei: My Humble House, 2008. p. 12). In “Red Rock”, the artist beautifully and thoroughly showcases the quality of oil paint to shape a rock that holds a primitive aggressiveness with abundant details and textures. This work completely overturns the elegant image of mountains and rocks in the literati tradition and accomplishes a bold masterpiece that carries the profundity of literati art.