PRINTCatalogue Note:
THE ADVENTURE LEADS TO A RIVERSIDE,
A NEW SCENE WITHOUT BOUNDS.
WAITING TO MEET THE EASTERN WINDS,
SPRING IS ALWAYS IN THOUSANDS OF VIOLETS AND REDS.
- A Spring Day. (Song) Zhu Xi
BEYOND THE IMAGE
In the words of Wu Dayu, To create a painting demands complete sincerity. It's not something to get smart about or show off, since it might take six years of schooling before you're able to even make a single finished, agreeable painting. Such a philosophy of painting was adopted as the main idea and standard of practice by Chu Teh- Chun, one of the abstract artists in modern Chinese art. A lover of Western classical music, Chu Teh-Chun would listen to it while working as a way to ignite another side of himself. He would follow the music's mild, 'yin and yang' transitions, drawing inspiration from the depths, heights, and countless undulations, adding detail and a sense of delicate, musical rhythm to his abstract paintings. With the light strokes of Chu Teh-Chun's heavy brush, ink is gracefully blended using both Chinese and Western techniques, theories, and expressions. The brushstrokes rise and fall across the paintings like a dancer, stepping, lunging, and leaping across a stage. There is a clear sense of action on the canvas, with colours colliding and interweaving as if shifting through every season at once. Together, they give structure to the multitude of galaxies and landscapes without end in the artist's imagination.
Having hiked mountains and walked rivers thousands of times during his travels in different countries, what Chu Teh-Chun saw and where he stepped he took to heart, later adapting those colours into the bright forms of his work. One can see in Chu Teh- Chun's abstract paintings how the artist had developed techniques in calligraphy since his childhood. The artist's masterful infusion of the spirit behind Chinese landscape painting with a natural and flowing script gives the work a certain connection to ink painting. While a thick brush sweeps through the majestic mountain ranges, a fine brush flies with the electricity in the wind, and together they cover the canvas in a captivating Eastern texture of colourful oils and drunken inks that only Chu Teh-Chun could do. But beyond the technical side of the work which would pose a challenge for Western artists, even more difficult to replicate is the vibrant, scenery-transcending energy of the paintings.
Chu Teh-Chun was a master of his craft, and he considered nature to be the main fountainhead of his creative inspiration. The most beautiful landscapes and gorgeous scenes he had seen would transform before his eyes into nourishment – the winter snow, summer rain, spring flowers, and autumn leaves that all made marks on his art practice. Oxford University art critic Michael Sullivan, who was previously a Tang dynasty literature critic, once described the paintings and artistic wisdom of Chu Teh-Chun in the terms of Sikong Tu as written in Quality of Grandeur in Poetry: 'Leap beyond the external appearance to reach the centre of the circle'. While originally describing the cathartic peak of a poem, it is also extremely befitting of Chu Teh-Chun's beautiful paintings. Taking a look at this 1995 untitled work, one can make out the artist's passion for the techniques of Eastern calligraphy and his applied knowledge of Western colour palettes as they are hidden throughout the painting. Yet even more recognisable is Chu Teh-Chun's refinement of ink painting skills such as heaviness, lightness, dryness, waterlessness, moistness, droughtiness, smudginess through the vocabulary of Western oil painting, adding soft yet robust layers of delicate yet bold details. The endlessly glimmering brilliance of the colours leads viewers into the artist's romantic world, which is filled with scenes that resonate with audiences' memories of nature, ever so gently pulling them closer.
A NEW SCENE WITHOUT BOUNDS.
WAITING TO MEET THE EASTERN WINDS,
SPRING IS ALWAYS IN THOUSANDS OF VIOLETS AND REDS.
- A Spring Day. (Song) Zhu Xi
BEYOND THE IMAGE
In the words of Wu Dayu, To create a painting demands complete sincerity. It's not something to get smart about or show off, since it might take six years of schooling before you're able to even make a single finished, agreeable painting. Such a philosophy of painting was adopted as the main idea and standard of practice by Chu Teh- Chun, one of the abstract artists in modern Chinese art. A lover of Western classical music, Chu Teh-Chun would listen to it while working as a way to ignite another side of himself. He would follow the music's mild, 'yin and yang' transitions, drawing inspiration from the depths, heights, and countless undulations, adding detail and a sense of delicate, musical rhythm to his abstract paintings. With the light strokes of Chu Teh-Chun's heavy brush, ink is gracefully blended using both Chinese and Western techniques, theories, and expressions. The brushstrokes rise and fall across the paintings like a dancer, stepping, lunging, and leaping across a stage. There is a clear sense of action on the canvas, with colours colliding and interweaving as if shifting through every season at once. Together, they give structure to the multitude of galaxies and landscapes without end in the artist's imagination.
Having hiked mountains and walked rivers thousands of times during his travels in different countries, what Chu Teh-Chun saw and where he stepped he took to heart, later adapting those colours into the bright forms of his work. One can see in Chu Teh- Chun's abstract paintings how the artist had developed techniques in calligraphy since his childhood. The artist's masterful infusion of the spirit behind Chinese landscape painting with a natural and flowing script gives the work a certain connection to ink painting. While a thick brush sweeps through the majestic mountain ranges, a fine brush flies with the electricity in the wind, and together they cover the canvas in a captivating Eastern texture of colourful oils and drunken inks that only Chu Teh-Chun could do. But beyond the technical side of the work which would pose a challenge for Western artists, even more difficult to replicate is the vibrant, scenery-transcending energy of the paintings.
Chu Teh-Chun was a master of his craft, and he considered nature to be the main fountainhead of his creative inspiration. The most beautiful landscapes and gorgeous scenes he had seen would transform before his eyes into nourishment – the winter snow, summer rain, spring flowers, and autumn leaves that all made marks on his art practice. Oxford University art critic Michael Sullivan, who was previously a Tang dynasty literature critic, once described the paintings and artistic wisdom of Chu Teh-Chun in the terms of Sikong Tu as written in Quality of Grandeur in Poetry: 'Leap beyond the external appearance to reach the centre of the circle'. While originally describing the cathartic peak of a poem, it is also extremely befitting of Chu Teh-Chun's beautiful paintings. Taking a look at this 1995 untitled work, one can make out the artist's passion for the techniques of Eastern calligraphy and his applied knowledge of Western colour palettes as they are hidden throughout the painting. Yet even more recognisable is Chu Teh-Chun's refinement of ink painting skills such as heaviness, lightness, dryness, waterlessness, moistness, droughtiness, smudginess through the vocabulary of Western oil painting, adding soft yet robust layers of delicate yet bold details. The endlessly glimmering brilliance of the colours leads viewers into the artist's romantic world, which is filled with scenes that resonate with audiences' memories of nature, ever so gently pulling them closer.