ILLUSTRATED:

Born in 1963, Hou Chun-ming boldly challenged the taboo and shocked the Chinese art circle in the early 1990s through avant-garde creation in the forms of installation art and engraving. In 1995, "the 46th Venice Biennial" had brought Hou Chun-ming, then only 32- years -old, up to the world stage, prosperous and successful, and second to none. In Taiwan, he has challenged the bottom line of the moral and aesthetics in respect of black-and-white images, together with the unreasonable Hou's literal writing, which titled him "Six Feet Hou".

However, one fact has been overlooked by all: The random grafiti and liberal writing explored to the deepest part of the soul by Hou Chun- ming are the essence of Hou's art. Many classic works are derived from this original source and the one with uppermost representation is "Mandala Diary" in 2001, as well as this series of "Meditation Paintings" in 2004 with 30 pieces of works.

In 1997, Hou Chun-ming was divorced and the backbone of his creativity was entirely paralyzed. The exuberant creativity he originally possessed had completely failed him and he was unable to do large-scale of works. He had to spend a lot of time on liberal writing and random grafiti to comfort and cure himself. During this period, the creation of Hou Chun-ming began to transfer from criticizing community to study of individual intrinsic thoughts.

In 2000, he promised himself a renaissance that he would follow his own inclinations to draw daily a piece of Mandala incessantly within a year. He recreated himself by writing and grafiti for several years. He has remarried now and became the father of two sons. Hou Chun- ming said that he himself is just like "a solitary soul and unrestrained ghost in Wanshan Temple transformed into a gardener safeguarding the life zone." Though not feeling frustrated at low ebb anymore, he keeps writing as a part of his life to recreate himself.

In 2004, he set up a group in Yuan-li, Miaoli County and held a fixed meeting weekly, meditating, painting, writing and mutual feedback. He leads friends to paint and meditate together through grafiti and liberal writing. He arranged parties and participated in meetings to purge his spirit and excavate his potential, which becomes the important transition stage of his meditation practice. Hou Chun-ming said, "Under the driving force of the group, the franker you disclosed in the works, the deeper you can touch the key issue of the life. Otherwise, it is just a waste of everybody's time." Through such kind of gathering for about six months, this set of "Meditation Paintings" has come out. To Hou Chun-ming, it is a creative action art formed by image and words from reality or imagination, rather than an art therapy. The accuracy of the image created by Hou Chun-ming has astounded us and several types of Hou-style "characters" have already endeavored to emerge in the random graffiti. This set of works is undoubtedly an important source of creativity for Hou Chun-ming's future works.