Oil and acrylic on canvas paper

91 × 60 cm. 35 7/8 × 23 5/8 in.

Dated and signed in Chinese on bottom right

LITERATURE
2017, Introspection & Exploration, Longmen Art Project, Shanghai, p. 36
EXHIBITED
28 Sep – 30 Nov 2016, Chuang Che Collage & Paintings 1962-2005, Longmen Art Project, Shanghai
25 Mar – 31 May 2017, Introspection & Exploration: Artistic Generations in Asia, Longmen Art Project, Hong Kong
20 – 23 Oct 2017, Abstraction, Symbols & Personal Life Experiences in Popular Culture, Art Taipei, Longmen Art Project, Taipei

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

Forgetting Reality in Ascending to the Heights, Plucking a Cloud From the Green Hills
Chuang Che's Elegant and Flamboyant Work during the Apex of His Career

Born in Beijing in 1934, and raised and educated in Taiwan, Chuang Che is an important member of The Fifth Moon Art Group, a group of Chinese artists who pioneered the modern art movement in post-war Taiwan. In 1965, he held his first solo exhibition. In the following year, he received a grant from the Rockefeller III to further his study in the United States, and has been living and working in New York since the 1970s. Born into a family of scholars, Chuang Che specializes in combining the traditions of Chinese literati with natural landscapes to produce abstract paintings with lively brushwork and poetic compositions, which have become his most prominent creative emblem. His works are widely collected by The Centre Pompidou in Paris, The Detroit Institute of Arts and The Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Refining spiritual imagery by drawing from traditional landscapes

Borrowing from Chinese painting traditions cultivated by Jing Hao, Guan Tong, Dong Yuan, and Ju Ran since the beginning of time, Chuang Che draws inspiration from art historical precedents to create abstract landscapes that depict visualizations of astrology. Winding Through uses thick and vigorous brushstrokes to highlight the aesthetic battle between the two vaguely connected peaks; the lower mountain on the right is illustrated by bold, gestural brushstrokes to create an ebullient and majestic atmosphere, followed by light flying brushstrokes with splashes of orange, which windingly lead to another mountain. The pale green and blue hues that adorn the canvas are reflective of the literati's affinity for ancient elegance, reminiscent of plants on mountains that had absorbed water overnight, creating smudges of large terrains of verdant, lush greenery. As the audience gazes upon the great heights, the few strands of light emerging from the mist resemble a dream-like wonderland. The painting masterfully creates contrast with dense and sparse brushstrokes, varying concentrations of color, and with dryness and wetness. The large area of white space conveys a sense of vastness of a solitary journey into the Taixu, evoking within the audience the poetic feeling of having forgotten reality as they ascend into the heights, and plucking a cloud from the green hills.

Price estimate:
HKD: 70,000 - 150,000
USD: 9,000 - 19,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 156,000