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New Scenery of Kuimen
Details
LIU KUO-SUNG (LIU GUOSONG, B. 1932)
New Scenery of Kuimen
Hanging scroll
Ink and colour on paper
75 x 118.5 cm. (29 1/2 x 46 5/8 in.)
Executed in 2005
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Taiwan
New Scenery of Kuimen
Hanging scroll
Ink and colour on paper
75 x 118.5 cm. (29 1/2 x 46 5/8 in.)
Executed in 2005
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Taiwan
Further details
Combining Liu Kuo-sung’s innovative technique and imagination, New Scenery of Kuimen is the artist’s novel interpretation of this natural wonder in China. Located in Chongqing, Kuimen is the entrance to Qutang Gorge, with narrow canyons nestled among ridges of high mountains. Qutang is the first and the shortest of the three Yangtze gorges and is often considered the most spectacular of the three. Kuimen is also known for a white washed cliff, the Chalk Wall, which hangs on the southern bank of the Yangtze River.
Liu combines his technical mastery and an experimental use of materials to conjure the landscape of Qutang Gorge. The creative process, pioneered by Liu, involves the artist peeling strands of fibre from a specially-made textured paper to outline the mountains in white. Through repeated painting, creasing and peeling of both sides of the paper, Liu creates atmospheric mountainscapes, their topography shown through webs of white lines set against a dark, expansive backdrop of the horizon.
Although this series of work primarily features the artist’s impressions of the Tibetan snowy mountains, Liu Kuo-sung has used the same technique to portray the scene at Kuimen, particularly applying his signature “white line” to accentuate the white-washed Chalk Wall. The use of green colour and small bright red spots that Liu uses to portray the mountains opposite manifest fully the richness of colour and liveliness of the Three Gorges.
Liu combines his technical mastery and an experimental use of materials to conjure the landscape of Qutang Gorge. The creative process, pioneered by Liu, involves the artist peeling strands of fibre from a specially-made textured paper to outline the mountains in white. Through repeated painting, creasing and peeling of both sides of the paper, Liu creates atmospheric mountainscapes, their topography shown through webs of white lines set against a dark, expansive backdrop of the horizon.
Although this series of work primarily features the artist’s impressions of the Tibetan snowy mountains, Liu Kuo-sung has used the same technique to portray the scene at Kuimen, particularly applying his signature “white line” to accentuate the white-washed Chalk Wall. The use of green colour and small bright red spots that Liu uses to portray the mountains opposite manifest fully the richness of colour and liveliness of the Three Gorges.
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Sibley Ngai