PROVENANCE:

Collection of UMC, Taipei

ILLUSTRATED:

Liao Chiung Fang, Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series II: Chu Teh-chun, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, 1999, color illustration, numbered 188, p. 272

Chu Teh-chun, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, 2000, color illustration, pp. 210-211

Solo Exhibition of Chu Teh-Chun, Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, 2007, color illustration, p. 281

Chu Teh-chun embodies the spirit of the traditional Chinese literati; taking traditional culture and arts as the foundation for his work, he uses images from the physical universe to explore aspects of the human soul. Chu's work reflects perceptive observation of the fundamental spirit of nature, creating a harmonious "Fusion of Heaven and Humankind." Chu Teh-chun adopts elements from Western abstract art – in terms of his use of color, line and composition – but integrates them with brushwork techniques from traditional Chinese calligraphy and ink brush painting, transforming an expressionist artistic lexicon that de-emphasizes formal resemblance to reality into a new style of poetic abstract painting. He brings together the subjective memory of the individual and the rhythmic vitality of external physical objects, to let the landscape that exists within the artist's soul take shape on the canvas.

Chu Teh-chun's abstract painting style had already reached maturity in the 1980s. In this particular work, "Composition," which was painted in 1995, Chu makes bold, extravagant use of color, employing dark tones that embody emptiness and solitude, and orange-red that creates a sense of intensity. The serried color patches are like light after darkness; even in the shadows, one can detect a steady, unwavering warmth and passion. Chu's broad brushstrokes cross over one another, while other strokes using the "fei bai" technique are layered on to create a sense of space and depth. The fantastical transformation resulting from the varying layers of dark and light produces magical changes in the pattern of light and shadow in the painting. As suggested by Chu's comments on his own work, the arrangement of color and line in this canvas is anything but random; rather, color and line support one another harmoniously to create images and rhythm, producing a "spring of light" that flows like running water.