ILLUSTRATED:
Liao Chiung Fang, Overseas Chinese Fine Arts Series II: Chu Teh-chun, Artist Publishing Co., Taipei, 1999, color illustration, numbered 223, p. 282
Solo Exhibition of Chu Teh-Chun, The Ueno Royal Museum (catalogue), Tokyo; Thin Chang Corporation, Taipei, 2007, color illustrated, p. 290

Constantly refining and honing his ethereal abstract aesthetic, Chu Teh-chun’s stunning compositions of the 1990s exhibit a dominant yet serene exploration of form and color. As the artist sought to meld the ideals of traditional Chinese painting with modern Western abstract expressionist movements, Chu Teh-chun expanded his exploration in creating compositions which embodied the aesthetics of both abstraction and Chinese calligraphy. “The concept is quite similar,” states Chu, “Format is not required but rather similarity…the aesthetic factors are what the artist of abstraction is looking for, i.e. lines, colors, and compositions.” Chu Teh-chun’s work from the 1990s demonstrates the calligraphic balance of varying brushstrokes alongside an elegantly refined color palette. This graceful confluence of technique and aesthetic serves to elevate the harmony and piercing emotional value of the artist’s works.

An exemplary demonstration of the artist’s skill, Forces Verticales presents a level of sophistication in abstract exploration illustrating Chu Teh-chun’s decades of honed practice. With delicate and airy sweeping strokes and stunning tones of opulent vibrancy, Forces Verticales exhibits a sense of sculptural depth within this composition. Creating a visual landscape in abstraction, columns of streaming light illuminate the darkened depths of the shadowed expanse, with resplendent colors refracted across the expanse of the composition. To create such a rich landscape from abstract forms, Chu Teh-chun melded his explorations in Western abstraction with the spirit and intention of traditional Chinese landscapes. As the artist himself explains, Forces Verticales embodies this sense of reaching beyond accepted forms to convey the sensation of physical landscape and structure within the formless composition of abstraction.