ILLUSTRATED:
Chu Teh-chun 88 Retrospective, National Museum of History, Thin Chang Cooporation, Taipei, 2008, color illustrated, p. 83

This painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

An artist’s creative expression at a young age is predicated on natural talent, when the artist gains maturity, persistence and sophistication become more crucial to the exertion of artistic gift. Upon approaching the middle years, not only is the artist expected to surpass the accomplishments over the past decades, intrinsic knowledge and spiritual cultivation also become manifest in the artist’s creations. This is the internal wisdom that enables a master of art to transcend into the realm of incomparable distinction. Chu Teh-chun experienced times of historical upheaval in his early years, and traveled afar to foreign lands in pursuit of artistic aspirations in the bloom of his youth, thereafter attaining great artistic achievements revered by East and West alike. Throughout his life, he created one artistic pinnacle after another, all of which he strove to supersede. His journeys to all corners of the earth, as well as his proficiency in Chinese and Western philosophies, Chinese calligraphy and painting have all provided him with inexhaustible inspirations for the abstract painting. The richness of his life experiences and broad horizons has furthermore imbued in his later works a sense of liberty and elegant refinement. After the passing of the millennium, the artist began delving into his mind for its precious storage of memories and impressions. These spiritual resources accumulated throughout his lifetime had transformed into boundless, fertile fields upon artistic creation could grow and prosper. With brush strokes that remained ever powerful, he employed bright and vivid colors in the canvas of magical landscapes that kindle our unbounded imagination. These paintings of beautiful hues and lucid structures are perfect reflections of the artist’s magnanimity and great wisdom.

Painted between 2004 and 2005, “Touches orangées” is exemplary of the brilliance Chu attained in his later years. With the use of color and brush strokes as his central themes, the artist implies that this piece is an investigation into the essence of painting, based upon which he initiates a dialogue on aesthetic philosophy that explores the various elements of artistic structure. In this painting, bright, vivid colors are executed in a horizontal composition symbolizing the vibrant energy of sensations and emotions. While blue is the dominant hue of this work, gorgeous colors of brilliant contrast emit a dazzling radiance. The multi-layered tones in orange and red to the right cohere and cumulate against a serene backdrop of indigo. Fiery and scorching as blazing fire, resplendent and crystalline as magnificent gems, they become the focal point of the entire canvas. Chu greatly favors the color blue. In his eyes, blue is inclusive and succinct, the perfect color for exhibiting his inner feelings. Meanwhile, the primary tones of orange and yellow emanate passion and vitality. With the artist’s ingenious and varying strokes, these colors at times appear definitive and refined or lithe and spirited, just as if they were imbued with an infinite power that allows them to transform into a myriad brilliant hues. The painting’s horizontal structure sweeps across the canvas, with tones of red and orange cohering in the lower right. The artist even signed his name at the bottom right with orange-yellow pigment, complementing the color layout of the entire painting.

At his eighties, Chu, had long since attained a mastery of space and wields his brush with uninhibited freedom, exaltation, and confidence. The fluid, splendid formations and colors in “Touches orangées” further reveal that the artist is also an unparalleled master of color. Light, vivid hues or thickly shaded tones, colors always appear pure and translucent under the stroke of his brush. They reflect, complement but never interrupt each other, indicating the artist’s broad, inclusive mind and remarkable wisdom that are the culmination of a lifetime of extensive travels, vivid experiences, and exquisite heartfelt emotions. As early as the 1970s, Chu was already inspired by 17th century Dutch master, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), who strove to represent the dramatic expression of brightness and shadow through strong contrasts between light and dark. Chu’s extraordinarily agile brush strokes and unique color composition enabled him to paint in dark colors that remained dynamic and uplifting, instilling immense power into his abstract painting without engendering a sense of weight and heaviness. In later works such as “Touches orangées,” the contrast between light and dark remain significant. However, the boundaries between blocks of color are already becoming intermingled with one another, taking on the appearance of additional grace and tranquility. Working upwards from the dark, horizontal structure stretching across the center of the canvas, the artist created embellishments in the form of tiny blocks of color that transmute into shades of brilliant luminosity. It is this brilliance from which enchanting rays of blue, purple, red and yellow are projected to the furthest corners of the canvas. The miniscule blocks of color reminiscent of speed and movement resemble splashing water or an effusion of flying rocks. Overflowing energy and an innumerable amount of detail that occupy our vision are as remarkable and astounding as the energy that flows throughout the universe, guiding our souls in our journey across surging waves towards graceful composure and infinite serenity.

Graceful composure and infinite serenity