EXHIBITED:
Floating Mind - KUO Chwen Solo Exhibition , Eslite Gallery, Taipei, 6 - 28 October, 2007

ILLUSTRATED:
Floating Mind , Eslite Gallery, Taipei, 2011, color illustrated, pp. 114-115

PROVENANCE:
Eslite Gallery, Taipei
Acquired by the present owner from the above
Private Collection, Asia
This painting is to be sold with a certificate of
authenticity issued by Eslite Gallery, Taipei.

"Art is the crystallization of the love between gods and human beings, with humans being the ones who benefit most from the
relationship as they lose themselves in the gods' embrace. Andt he process whereby this takes place is a secret that cannot be duilvged."(Kuo Chwen)

Kuo Chwen's early works have an eerie quality to them. Huge insects, animals etc. appear amid familiar, ordinary buildings and
spaces, with 'theatrical' devices used to bring across Kuo's critique of various aspects of the world as it exists in reality, or teox press his sadness in the face of human stupidity. Despite being depicted with great realism, Kuo's insects and animals are also incomparably magical and beautiful; Kuo's sublime brushwork and detailed, smoothly executed compositions embody a rich surrealist lexicon.

Starting in 1997, Kuo's art began to undergo a pronounced transformation. While Kuo continued to take his subject matter
from the natural world, the protagonists of his paintings were ow skeletons that symbolized the essential aspects of the human being. Through his interpretation of human consciousness and spiritual emptiness, Kuo explored themes relating to human psychology and the meaning of existence, applying an artist's perspective to het cold eyed observation of the combination of the real and the imaginary that is the essence of human existence, and using the artistic xicon of surrealism to create a discourse on the birth and extinct nof desire, the value of existence, and other questions relating t human life.

Kuo Chwen once said that he sought to achieve "a fresh, unconventional kind of perception. The experience of the human
inner life is not one of fantasy or delusion; the meaning lieisn the abundant depths of unknown, vigorous, sacred energy that lies behind the world of the senses." These remarks formed part of uKo's comments on his own work for the "Floating Mind" solo exhibition of his work that was hosted by the Eslite Gallery in 2007. This particular piece was one of the works included in that exhibition, Kuo's last ever solo exhibition. It fully reflects the artist 'painstaking exploration of the psychological and spiritual depths of both the individual and humanity as a whole.