PROVENANCE:
Collection of former Director of the Shiy De-jinn Foundation (acquired directly from the artist)

The tranquility and elegance of the scenery of Tamsui River is an often-seen topic in his works. Shiy De-jinn once wrote, To paint the landscape of Tamsui River, I often rush there before the sunset so that I can see the emerging beach and the drained river bed after the tide recedes. I often wander along the bank where flocks of egrets alight, where the grass and bush thrive. I often find an abandoned sandbank and plant myself there as if I were deserted in a more primitive era. I lose myself there. Then, Mt. Guanyin rises from the plain sandbank and projects itself on the still water. The water is the sky, the sky is the water.

I love those broken and abandoned old boats that lean with the fatigue of time in the shallow bay. Their heroic deeds are by no means remembered; their wing-like sails will never fly again. However, the sunset in Tamsui remains forever bright; the lofty scene of Mt. Guanyin on the opposite bank is forever majestic.

The river, sandbanks, small boats, old red brick houses and Mt. Guanyin, they are Shiy De-jinn’s impression of Tamsui and also depicted in this work “Old Houses, Tamsui”. Shiy De-jinn rooted his art in the soil of his native land, bringing rich and touching national sentiment into his works. I was immersed in love and excitement. Under the grey, lonely sky, I sipped the melancholy green of the grass, the brilliant gold of the sunset, and the rich old red of the brick houses..., and this is my art, it doesn't live inside ancient paintings or dreams, and never in Western trends.