亞洲現代與當代藝術 Modern and Contemporary Asian Art

WHAT SHALL I SAY OF THE GREAT PEAK?
THE ANCIENT DUKEDOMS ARE EVERYWHERE GREEN,
INSPIRED AND STIRRED BY THE BREATH OF CREATION,
WITH THE TWIN FORCES BALANCING DAY AND NIGHT.
I BARE MY BREAST TOWARD OPENING CLOUDS,
I STRAIN MY SIGHT AFTER BIRDS FLYING HOME.
WHEN SHALL I REACH THE TOP AND HOLD
ALL MOUNTAINS IN A SINGLE GLANCE?
- Du Fu, A View Of Taishan
Liu Kuo-Sung founded the Fifth Moon Group in 1956, widely
publicising a call to 'overturn the centre tip' in modern ink painting
theory, which became the focus of a heated debate in the art
world. Liu promoted the incorporation of Western concepts as the
aesthetic foundations for ink painting, and he used abstraction as a
means to escape the visual experiences of the past. He transcended
nature's representations by depicting free-spirited beauty, thereby
making his subject eternal. Commenting on Liu Kuo-Sung’s work,
writer Yu Kwang-chung once wrote, "His paintings have their own
orbit, so full of vitality to have taken on their own endlessly vicious,
unbearable life of a sort that goes on and on with neither beginning
nor end, and it constantly draws us in."
The piece “Mountain Ranges” is one of Liu Kuo-Sung’s later works,
depicting a stroll through vast, smoky waters, gazing at a world
without bounds. It exemplifies Liu Kuo-Sung’s purified approach
to the natural landscape, each external feature simplified into
geometric shapes, and his method of emboldened texturing
gives the scene a beautiful, skin-like appearance. An ‘Eastern
consciousness’ is embodied in Liu Kuo-Sung’s artwork, and a
deep understanding of life is vividly portrayed through his use
of the brush. Abstraction is used as a means to escape the visual
experiences of the past. And through his depictions of a freespirited
beauty, representations of nature are transcended and
made eternal. Liu Kuo-Sung’s innovative ‘Ripping the Tendons and
Peeling the Skin’ technique enriches the context of the painting
and turns the world of landscapes into a part of the self. Exemplary
of the artist’s truly unique approach, the technique displayed in this
work has also become widely known as the ‘Liu Kuo-Sung Style’ of
abstract landscape painting.
Liu Kuo-Sung has applied his unique techniques for depicting
the visual structures of landscapes to all kinds of vast and striking
terrains. Without the goal of objective reproduction factoring into
his practice, he finds ways to play with the ink so that the abstract
forms subtly express the heartfelt emotion Liu puts into his work.
At the same time, the natural landscape takes on its own subjective
conscious — a self-expressive feeling that balances the internal
with the external and sings an eternal melody for human life. More
indirectly, there is also a certain implication of a Chinese cultural
ethics that can be found in Liu's work — an understanding of the
circle of life present in his art practice. Beyond this spiritual nature
of the work, there is also a manifest sentiment for the tradition of
Chinese ink painting reproduced through Liu Kuo-Sung's innovative
techniques, which so lucidly bring out the majestic beauty of the
natural landscape.
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