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Lot Essay
Since 1956 Chu Teh-Chun makes a stylistic shift from representational to abstraction. In the late 1960s, another shift occurs as he diverts his attention from constructing and compounding abstract languages with points, lines and planes to a more sophisticated aesthetic expression with defter colouring and composition. What had in former times inspired him, like the style of cubic dissection of the School of Paris and the uniquely Chinese composition of Fan Kuan's (10th century - early 11th century) landscapes, became submerged and less visually apparent.
In 1976, Chu took up again the ink-wash tradition and reappraised the aesthetics of traditional calligraphy and paintings. In Untitled (Lot 21), Chu's swift and stormy brushwork, akin to the 'automatic writing' of calligraphic cursive scripts, produces a surge of vibrant energy. The instantaneous and gliding lines linger over a background spread in green and greyish white, evoking the eerie atmosphere of a deep valley, or a distant mountain, wreathed in mist and smog. The canvas dominated by a greenish overall tonality, the artist further incorporates the concept of 'empty space', a technique characterised in Chinese traditional painting. A wide sweep of nearly blank space covers the work and extends to the edge of the canvas, calling to mind patches of swirling fog arising at dawn, or a cloudy arena so boundless that one loses one's sense of distance inside. It is, moreover, tinted with dots and lines in jade green, light yellow, azure and reddish-brown, which move agilely within the seeming emptiness. Untitled is the perfect composite of the mastery of colour and the uninhibited brushstrokes that bring magical charm to Chu's painting. Overwhelmed by musicality, organised irregularity and multilayered structures, his works showcase a profusion of energy and liveliness.
Starting from images he finds in nature, Chu incorporates the essence of Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy with the poetic, non-figurative aspects of Western painting. In his own untamed and unbridled manner, he conceives an intricate cosmos of abstraction, spawning with a philosophical mind and a sublime spirit, a harmony between man and nature, between the internal self and the external world. The art of Chu is an emblem of all these contemplations.
In 1976, Chu took up again the ink-wash tradition and reappraised the aesthetics of traditional calligraphy and paintings. In Untitled (Lot 21), Chu's swift and stormy brushwork, akin to the 'automatic writing' of calligraphic cursive scripts, produces a surge of vibrant energy. The instantaneous and gliding lines linger over a background spread in green and greyish white, evoking the eerie atmosphere of a deep valley, or a distant mountain, wreathed in mist and smog. The canvas dominated by a greenish overall tonality, the artist further incorporates the concept of 'empty space', a technique characterised in Chinese traditional painting. A wide sweep of nearly blank space covers the work and extends to the edge of the canvas, calling to mind patches of swirling fog arising at dawn, or a cloudy arena so boundless that one loses one's sense of distance inside. It is, moreover, tinted with dots and lines in jade green, light yellow, azure and reddish-brown, which move agilely within the seeming emptiness. Untitled is the perfect composite of the mastery of colour and the uninhibited brushstrokes that bring magical charm to Chu's painting. Overwhelmed by musicality, organised irregularity and multilayered structures, his works showcase a profusion of energy and liveliness.
Starting from images he finds in nature, Chu incorporates the essence of Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy with the poetic, non-figurative aspects of Western painting. In his own untamed and unbridled manner, he conceives an intricate cosmos of abstraction, spawning with a philosophical mind and a sublime spirit, a harmony between man and nature, between the internal self and the external world. The art of Chu is an emblem of all these contemplations.