Chu Teh-chun was particularly fond of the color blue. He once commented that “the poetic quality of the color and the deep emotions it inspires created the

sapphire blue tone in my spiritual ‘palette’” (Tsu Wei, Biography of Chu Teh-chun, Taipei: Hoke Art Publishing Co., Ltd., 2003, p. 232). Chu Teh-chun felt that, in nature, blue was the color with the greatest “presence.” This particular work has been instilled by the artist with the imposing, magnificent blue tones of mountains and waters. Chu makes expert use of the contrast between thick and thin paint application and between dry and wet that is so important in oil painting to create a misty, gauzy feel, while also achieving the kind of “texture” seen in traditional Chinese ink brush painting. In Chu’s hands, oils are not merely colors; they are transformed into a creative lexicon of immense power. In “”Souffle de la Nature,” Chu uses broad, sweeping brushstrokes to create a black and green background, while the center of the canvas features dark orange, yellow, brown, blue, white and red “gemstone” color patches that sparkle brilliantly. The dynamic “gemstone” color patches whirl around amidst taught, twisting lines, create a sense of multiple dimensions. Refusing to be constrained by traditional rules of perspective, Chu has created a work that is alive with the contrasts between light and dark, producing a complex, interleaved composition. This work demonstrates how, by the 1990s, Chu Teh- chun’s shift towards a more abstract style had seen him achieve more freedom and confidence in terms of both his brushwork and his use of color.

Under Chu Teh-chun’s masterly brush, a static painting takes on a sense of speed and dynamism; the contrast between light and shadow takes control of the work,

magically transforming the dimensionality of the canvas, so that the misty “landscapes” are both still and full of movement. Chu makes the constant change of the cosmos and the relationship between man and nature exude a poetic rhythm that gives off a feeling of joy and acceptance, embodying the spiritual awakening that Chu himself felt that nature had given him, and reflecting the comments that Chu once made to the effect that “What I paint is both my response to nature and the feeling that nature instills in me. You might go so far as to say that the work is the spiritual crystallization of my relationship with nature.” The sudden appearance of light in the canvas seems like the first light of victory after eons of darkness, embodying the rebirth of hope. “Souffle de la Nature” can fairly be said to constitute one of the finest masterpieces to take its being from Chu Teh-chun’s lifelong artistic journey of the spirit.