EXHIBITED:
Zao Wou ki, Gallerie Artcurial Artcurial, Paris, February- March 1992
Zao Wou ki, Cultural Center of contemporary Art, Televisa Cultural Foundation, Mexico, March 3 - May 3, 1994
Zao Wou ki 60 ans de peintunes (1935-1998) shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1998

ILLUSTRATED:
Cultural Center of Contemporary Art, Televisa Cultural Foundation Catalog, Mexico, color illustrated, no. 28, 1994
Zao Wou-ki 60 ans de peintures (1935-1998), Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 1998 color illustrated, pp. 234-235
Zao Wou-ki (1935-2008), Dominique de Villepin, dirige par Francoise Marquet et Yann Hendgen, Flammarion, Paris, 2009, color illustrated, p. 252
Zao Wou-ki (1935-2008), Dominique de Villepin, dirige par Francoise Marquet et Yann Hendgen, Kwai Fung Art Publishing House, Hong Kong, 2010, color illustrated, p. 252 (Mandarin Chinese edition)
Zao Wou-ki (1935-2008), Dominique de Villepin, dirige par Francoise Marquet et Yann Hendgen, Kwai Fung Art Publishing House, Hong Kong, 2010, color illustrated (English edition)

As he grew older and became more experienced, Zao Wou-Ki became more comfortable when composing his works in the 1990s, exhibiting a kind of delightful proficiency during his artistic process. Created in 1991, “16.09.91” imbues the artist’s inner satisfaction and open mind into the work's flowing light and tones. The invisible forces in the painting chase and collide with one another, setting off infinite sense of dynamism. Yet the artist adds openness and harmony to the whole painting, making it appear light and free. Zao fully demonstrates the poetic conception held by Chinese literati and the charm of Eastern ink wash during this period. He beautifully depicts the landscape outside the radius of solid images, rising to an eternal state that reaches “oneness of heaven and humanity.”

As a creator of art, Zao never explained his works. As French writer Jose Freches describes, “Though he appeared calm and steady, in fact, Zao was never inclined to explain what he created and how he created it. He perfectly believed that his works explained everything. That was why he was always eager to touch blank and unused canvases. Right when he was brave enough to confront such blankness, he created his own world.” (An excerpt from “Le souffle et l'ame,” Zao Wou-Ki—OEuvres, ecrits, entretiens, Ediciones Poligrafa, Barcelona & Editions Hazan, Paris, 2007, p. 15. Kwai Fung Art Publishing House, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 379.)

Real masterpieces of art need no further explanation. Although the artist chose not to explain his works, we still discover the trajectory of his transformations through his paintings, the course he ceaselessly transcended himself and opened up new creative styles. Since his focus on the ridged composition in the 1960s, Zao emphasized the center of his canvas, focusing his complicated strokes and changes on the center to form a focal point. In the 1970s he picked up the Chinese writing brush once again. His ink wash technique injected diverse strata of shades and the essence of Chinese ink into his paintings. Around 1989, Zao once again broke through his past composition, striding from “convergence” to “distribution.” For the first time, his strokes encompassed the center from the peripheral, making a new form that showed a relatively void and profound center. The artist tended to arrange thick and heavy tones on the peripheral and bright hues on center. Such a layout reminds people of a cave, a secluded space that exudes a sort of calm and tranquil air. Such mysterious yet appealing attraction seems to possess the secrets of nature. “16.09.91” also adopts this enclosed composition with light colors as its overall theme, laying out a broad open view of clarity. In front of this work, it is not as if one is sitting in a cave but viewing a magnificent landscape on top of the world.

In “16.09.91”, Zao shows his pursuit for an airy and abstract cosmic space. He boldly demonstrates the brightness and purity of light with his colors. Yet the work exhibits the chaos of a time before the world came into existence. Light soars in the air unhindered by gravity that has yet to exist. Forces collide, merge and vacillate with one another. Everything is possessed with infinite possibilities. Between softness and calmness, pulses and dances, contradictions and conflicts, colors and strokes reach a perfect balance, containing the collision of feelings, the magnificence of nature, the rhythm of the sky and the trajectory where matters orbit. The presentation reflects the artist’s profound perspective and reveals the secret of the cosmos. Standing in front of “16.09.91”, we seem to stand on the peak alone, facing the limitless sky with clouds surging underneath, light and clean. Washes of paint stretch across the canvas. Misty iron gray and deep blue stokes fly toward the distant unknown end with a momentum that converges at the center, glowing with a bright, spectacular radiance that attracts us to overlook the unknown ahead. The troubles of the world disperse, replaced with an awe-inspiring enthusiasm that fills our bosom as we face a vast, boundless world.

Devoting to the exploration, innovation and development of artistic expression, Zao never allowed himself to be held up. He ceaselessly went beyond himself and broke his established achievements and forms, bringing about brilliant transformations time after time. In his paintings, he touches people not only with his masterly skill but also his perfectly depicted inner landscape. Going through the ups and downs of life and the passionate romantic relationship that etched in his memories, Zao exhibited different inner strength through his works. They are sometimes heated and intense while sometimes withdrawn and frustrated, uttering his pursuit, transcendence and emotional struggles. Nonetheless, the artist always strove to make breakthroughs with his tenacious and unswerving will, forging a dazzling and remarkable artistic gem for the world. Former prime minister of France, Dominique de Villepin, also a poet and a critic with profound understanding of abstract painting, described Zao’s painting as “being filled with passion. It has a kind of spiritual possession, a channel between the unknown and the world, a superb combination between matters and the soul. In his paintings, creativity never separates with life. Relevant experiences intertwine on the canvas, running through and penetrating one another but never merging together. The viewer is deeply caught by the painting where he has to fight for his freedom, struggling in the arena of colors. Then he will be saved from drowning in the flood, surfacing the water with a brand-new look.” (An excerpt from “Dans le labyrinthe des lumieres,” Zao Wou-ki, Kwai Fung Art Publishing House, Hong Kong, 2010, p. 37.) It is because of such a sincere artistic expression that arouses our inner response. The rise and fall in life bring us wisdom, and the surging emotions in his paintings discharge the inexhaustible force of life. In 1991, he was widely recognized and acclaimed with his artistic achievements. Living in France for more than 40 years, in his seventies, Zao was still radiant. As invaluable as his life, his paintings have already been through a series of tests, becoming bolder and freer than ever.