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Lot Essay
“Ink painting overlooks aspects of realism, forgoes the sense of volume, surface, and the play of light and shadow. Instead, it is deeply invested in the relationship between every dot and line. Hence, the abstract nature of the dot and line is the very foundation of ink painting.”
- Liu Kuo-sung
The Composition of Distance No. 6 is a remarkable example of Liu Kuosung’s Space Series. In 1966, Liu received a two-year grant awarded by the John D. Rockefeller III Foundation to travel the world; over the next few years, he held exhibitions in California, New York and Germany to promote his art to an international audience.
In 1969, the famed Apollo 8 space mission led to the first moon landing by a crewed spacecraft. Widely broadcasted on television worldwide, this monumental milestone was objectified by the landmark photograph of Earth viewing from the moon entitled Earthrise, taken by astronaut William Ander. Inspired by this very photograph, Liu began to paint the Space Series. He depicts the sun and the moon shining above Earth with broad, abstract brushstrokes representing the landmasses and oceans of Earth. This new expression comes from his continuous innovation in subject matter and his maturity from his abstract paintings in the 1960s. By the 1970s, Liu has uncovered a face of Chinese paintings that no one has imagined before.
- Liu Kuo-sung
The Composition of Distance No. 6 is a remarkable example of Liu Kuosung’s Space Series. In 1966, Liu received a two-year grant awarded by the John D. Rockefeller III Foundation to travel the world; over the next few years, he held exhibitions in California, New York and Germany to promote his art to an international audience.
In 1969, the famed Apollo 8 space mission led to the first moon landing by a crewed spacecraft. Widely broadcasted on television worldwide, this monumental milestone was objectified by the landmark photograph of Earth viewing from the moon entitled Earthrise, taken by astronaut William Ander. Inspired by this very photograph, Liu began to paint the Space Series. He depicts the sun and the moon shining above Earth with broad, abstract brushstrokes representing the landmasses and oceans of Earth. This new expression comes from his continuous innovation in subject matter and his maturity from his abstract paintings in the 1960s. By the 1970s, Liu has uncovered a face of Chinese paintings that no one has imagined before.