Spring Colour in Movement: Jiuzhaigou Series No. 5

A pioneer of the contemporary ink movement, Liu Kuosung first co-founded the Fifth Moon Group with fellow artists in 1956, the aim of which was to promote progressive contemporary art in Taiwan. His dissatisfaction with the conservatism prevalent in the field of traditional painting at the time, coupled with a fascination with post-war European and American abstract art, led Liu Kuo-sung to artistic experiments that propelled contemporary ink art into entirely new trajectories. Throughout his long and prolific artistic career, Liu constantly introduces new techniques and materials to his work. With methods such as collage, paper tearing, ink rubbing and ink steeping, Liu experiments with the unpredictability of ink. The resultant imageries, from his early calligraphic, abstract landscape, to articulations of Jiuzhaigou and Tibet, explore the very processes of artistic production.

Since revisiting Jiuzhaigou Valley in 2000, Liu Kuo-sung was deeply moved by the unrivalled beauty of the crystal clear lakes. In the Steeped Ink series. Liu first applies ink and watercolour to moist tracing paper, non-absorbent by nature, before placing another sheet of tracing paper on top. He then sweeps the composition with a broad brush, leaving unpredictable horizontal patterns as the two sheets are separated from one another. Through variations of colour, paper thickness, and pressure of application, Liu’s Spring Colour in Movement: Jiuzhaigou Series No. 5 portrays the soothing grace of a lake in early spring, with subtle reflection of the foliage visible across the water. By conveying the diverse energy of water and the environment reflected upon it, Liu shifts this often-neglected element to the centrepiece of Chinese landscape painting, altering the relationship between mountain and water in this traditional genre, triggering an aesthetic revolution that continues to inspire.