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Lot Essay
Chu Teh Chun's works capture the constant variation of the reality. From the combating of brushstrokes, the contrasting of light and shadow, Chu combines western media with the Chinese traditional landscape painting, illustrates the endless continuity of the universe. Defining his work as reflections of his soul, the gestural brushwork works, the alternation between dense and translucent colour, as well as the rhythmic colour choices all faithfully present Chu Teh Chun's true emotions. Chu masterly connects his mind and hands, illustrating the transient moments that stimulate viewers to wonder in the everchanging universe in his eyes. His experience in France and the deep planted influence from Chinese traditional painting enable Chu to develop his own visual language to express his inner passion.
FORCE VIVES (POWERFUL FORCES)
Force Vives (Powerful Forces) (Lot 404) is a powerful piece created in 2003. The use of colour during his later period was more diverse, representing Chu's masterly control over colour and light. The strong contrast between the bright yellow in the middle and the darker black and blue in the surrounding, depicts a powerful explosion. The luminous yellow at the bottom functions as a light source, lighting up and activating the whole space. This use of contrast colour recalls the piece by Frantisek Kupka. Considering the essential value of colour and drawing upon scientific research and spiritual believes, Kupka used properly composed colour to generate emotional and psychological effects that allow people to enter a transcendental stat e. In Force Vives, the contrasting yellow and blue create a similar visual and psychological effect, guiding viewers connect with Chu's passionate spirit, and confront the rhythmic turbulence of the nature. The power in Force Vives is also illustrated through the brushworks. The splashing colours in the background interplays with the detailed dots, lines and blocks in the foreground. The dynamic lines not only generate a melodic flow, but more importantly, connects with the tradition of Chinese calligraphy. It is almost as if Chu is writing, rather than painting. The curvy strokes visualize Chu's deep planted oriental spirit. The masterful control over brush expressively convey his endless inspiration and liberal spirit.
NO. 419
No. 419 (Lot 405) presents both the theatrical use of colour influenced by Baroque works of art and the dynamism of brushworks from Chinese paintings and calligraphy. This dynamic space Chu creates embodied a masterful mingle of Western and Chinese traditional paintings.
A visit at the 300-year retrospective exhibition of Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1969 struck Chu Teh-Chun with a new source of inspiration on his quest into the abstract language. It is not hard to recognize Baroque use of light in Chu's paintings. In No. 419, the bright yellow, burning orange along with hints of white and baby blue create a luminous diagonal in the painting, forming a strong contrast against the dark brown background. This dramatic use of light recalls Rembrandt's famous painting Stormy Landscape. Rembrandt uses similar dark background to emphasize the lightning, the enormous power of nature. While Chu uses non-figurative blocks of colour to generate a similar pungent moment, urging viewers to surrender to the power his painting, to embrace his passion embodied by the wealth of colour.
While the manipulation of colour and light reflects a Western tradition, No. 419 also expresses the inerasable influence of Chinese culture. The complex variation of brushstrokes reflects the delicate techniques used in Chinese paintings. In Ma Yuan's famous work Singing and Dancing. The steep mountains in Ma's painting are similar to Chu's use of brown vertical brushworks in the background of No. 419. The detailed depiction of pine trees is comparable to the meticulous and bright colour blocks in the middle of Chu's work.
Created in 1971, No. 419 records the significant moment when Chu Teh-chun took a further step to connect Western and Eastern visual languages. On one hand, Chu captures the texture of Western oil painting, depicting light through the manipulation of colour. On the other hand, he deeply understands the fluidity of Chinese paintings. Chu puts emphasis on direction and thickness of brushstrokes, generating a rhythmic dynamism for viewer's imagination.
VIE CACHÉE
Blue is one of Chu Teh-Chun's favourite colours. He once defines the jewellery-like blue as a part of his spiritual palette. Vie Cachée (Hidden Life) (Lot 406) was created in early 1990s when Chu frequently applies various types of blue to create rhythmic abstract paintings. Mastering the colour blue in different tones, ranging from darkest midnight blue, to lighter sky blue, Chu creates a harmonious, poetic space for us to appreciate his deep planted Chinese philosophy that continuously expressed in his works.
Blue has been frequently used in Chinese paintings. Since Tang Dynasty, the colour blue had been extracted from different types of minerals and used as decorative elements in mostly monochromatic ink paintings. The use of blue had reached an outstanding level during Song dynasty. Wang Ximeng's A Thoughsand Li of Rivers and Mountains illustrates how the artist brilliantly varies the tones of blue to create a lively scenery. Blue is no longer a decorative colour to fill the gap, but rather an essential element to generate not only depth, but more a vigorous, energetic feeling to the depiction of nature. It is almost as if the viewers could hear the flowing streams, feel the ever-growing power of nature through the masterly use of colour. The blocks of blues are more abstract in Chu Teh-Chun's work, the baby blue and dark sapphire interplays with each other decorated by the white dots and light yellow in the middle of the painting. The rhythmic melody composed by the dancing brushworks forms a delightful feeling. The seemingly carefree brushworks are in fact meticulously planned, mimicking the composition of traditional Chinese painting.
Different from western religion and traditional philosophy, Chinese philosophy has a unique non-binary world view. Daoism believes that human and nature are two inseparable components which significantly influence people to define the unity between human and nature as a goal of spiritual fulfillment. Consequentially, Chinese landscape paintings often go beyond capturing the form of nature, and function as entertaining, poetic pathways to link with nature. Chinese painting is therefore compatible with abstract art in its essence. Instead of reaching for picturesque realism, traditional Chinese painters aim at recording the feeling, the invisible aura and essence of nature. From Wang Ximeng's work, as well as more contemporary Zhang Daqian's ink work, the overlapping of brushworks, the interaction between different shades of colours not only creates an atmospheric perspective that is unique in Chinese paintings, but also generates a fluid scenery, allowing viewers to wonder, to unite with nature. Chu Teh-Chun spent his artistic life in creating a harmonious juxtaposition between Western oil paint and Chinese painting techniques, brings the implicit abstract nature of Chinese painting to the foreground. The contrasting yet harmonious visual effect attracts international attention and leaves a heavy mark in Chinese and world contemporary art history.
FORCE VIVES (POWERFUL FORCES)
Force Vives (Powerful Forces) (Lot 404) is a powerful piece created in 2003. The use of colour during his later period was more diverse, representing Chu's masterly control over colour and light. The strong contrast between the bright yellow in the middle and the darker black and blue in the surrounding, depicts a powerful explosion. The luminous yellow at the bottom functions as a light source, lighting up and activating the whole space. This use of contrast colour recalls the piece by Frantisek Kupka. Considering the essential value of colour and drawing upon scientific research and spiritual believes, Kupka used properly composed colour to generate emotional and psychological effects that allow people to enter a transcendental stat e. In Force Vives, the contrasting yellow and blue create a similar visual and psychological effect, guiding viewers connect with Chu's passionate spirit, and confront the rhythmic turbulence of the nature. The power in Force Vives is also illustrated through the brushworks. The splashing colours in the background interplays with the detailed dots, lines and blocks in the foreground. The dynamic lines not only generate a melodic flow, but more importantly, connects with the tradition of Chinese calligraphy. It is almost as if Chu is writing, rather than painting. The curvy strokes visualize Chu's deep planted oriental spirit. The masterful control over brush expressively convey his endless inspiration and liberal spirit.
NO. 419
No. 419 (Lot 405) presents both the theatrical use of colour influenced by Baroque works of art and the dynamism of brushworks from Chinese paintings and calligraphy. This dynamic space Chu creates embodied a masterful mingle of Western and Chinese traditional paintings.
A visit at the 300-year retrospective exhibition of Rembrandt at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1969 struck Chu Teh-Chun with a new source of inspiration on his quest into the abstract language. It is not hard to recognize Baroque use of light in Chu's paintings. In No. 419, the bright yellow, burning orange along with hints of white and baby blue create a luminous diagonal in the painting, forming a strong contrast against the dark brown background. This dramatic use of light recalls Rembrandt's famous painting Stormy Landscape. Rembrandt uses similar dark background to emphasize the lightning, the enormous power of nature. While Chu uses non-figurative blocks of colour to generate a similar pungent moment, urging viewers to surrender to the power his painting, to embrace his passion embodied by the wealth of colour.
While the manipulation of colour and light reflects a Western tradition, No. 419 also expresses the inerasable influence of Chinese culture. The complex variation of brushstrokes reflects the delicate techniques used in Chinese paintings. In Ma Yuan's famous work Singing and Dancing. The steep mountains in Ma's painting are similar to Chu's use of brown vertical brushworks in the background of No. 419. The detailed depiction of pine trees is comparable to the meticulous and bright colour blocks in the middle of Chu's work.
Created in 1971, No. 419 records the significant moment when Chu Teh-chun took a further step to connect Western and Eastern visual languages. On one hand, Chu captures the texture of Western oil painting, depicting light through the manipulation of colour. On the other hand, he deeply understands the fluidity of Chinese paintings. Chu puts emphasis on direction and thickness of brushstrokes, generating a rhythmic dynamism for viewer's imagination.
VIE CACHÉE
Blue is one of Chu Teh-Chun's favourite colours. He once defines the jewellery-like blue as a part of his spiritual palette. Vie Cachée (Hidden Life) (Lot 406) was created in early 1990s when Chu frequently applies various types of blue to create rhythmic abstract paintings. Mastering the colour blue in different tones, ranging from darkest midnight blue, to lighter sky blue, Chu creates a harmonious, poetic space for us to appreciate his deep planted Chinese philosophy that continuously expressed in his works.
Blue has been frequently used in Chinese paintings. Since Tang Dynasty, the colour blue had been extracted from different types of minerals and used as decorative elements in mostly monochromatic ink paintings. The use of blue had reached an outstanding level during Song dynasty. Wang Ximeng's A Thoughsand Li of Rivers and Mountains illustrates how the artist brilliantly varies the tones of blue to create a lively scenery. Blue is no longer a decorative colour to fill the gap, but rather an essential element to generate not only depth, but more a vigorous, energetic feeling to the depiction of nature. It is almost as if the viewers could hear the flowing streams, feel the ever-growing power of nature through the masterly use of colour. The blocks of blues are more abstract in Chu Teh-Chun's work, the baby blue and dark sapphire interplays with each other decorated by the white dots and light yellow in the middle of the painting. The rhythmic melody composed by the dancing brushworks forms a delightful feeling. The seemingly carefree brushworks are in fact meticulously planned, mimicking the composition of traditional Chinese painting.
Different from western religion and traditional philosophy, Chinese philosophy has a unique non-binary world view. Daoism believes that human and nature are two inseparable components which significantly influence people to define the unity between human and nature as a goal of spiritual fulfillment. Consequentially, Chinese landscape paintings often go beyond capturing the form of nature, and function as entertaining, poetic pathways to link with nature. Chinese painting is therefore compatible with abstract art in its essence. Instead of reaching for picturesque realism, traditional Chinese painters aim at recording the feeling, the invisible aura and essence of nature. From Wang Ximeng's work, as well as more contemporary Zhang Daqian's ink work, the overlapping of brushworks, the interaction between different shades of colours not only creates an atmospheric perspective that is unique in Chinese paintings, but also generates a fluid scenery, allowing viewers to wonder, to unite with nature. Chu Teh-Chun spent his artistic life in creating a harmonious juxtaposition between Western oil paint and Chinese painting techniques, brings the implicit abstract nature of Chinese painting to the foreground. The contrasting yet harmonious visual effect attracts international attention and leaves a heavy mark in Chinese and world contemporary art history.