Lin & Lin Gallery is pleased to present the curated exhibition Transcendence from Afar- Oriental Abstract Painting and the Tradition of Creating Ekaggatā, featuring seven Chinese leading artists Wu Da-Yu, Li Chun-Shan, Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun, Tommy Chen, Yan Hsia, and Hsiao Chin. From the perspective of continuing the spirit of oriental art and aesthetics, the pursuit of the “yipin” and creating ekaggatā in Chinese ink landscape painting is considered as ways to understand the spirit of oriental abstract painting.

For a long time in art history, oriental abstract painting has always been categorized as a form of learning and imitation of Western abstract painting. However, artists such as Wu Da-Yu, Li Chun-Shan, and the artists of Fifth Moon Group as well as Ton-Fan Group later on have continued to emphasize the importance of oriental thought in their creative consciousness, formal expression and aesthetic thinking. In particular, the spirit of Taoism is pursued.

For the Chinese leading artists, Western philosophers Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Hegel, Kant, and even the Western aesthetic and artistic traditions have enlightened their thinking about aesthetics, but these are more like an instrument from which to learn. The roots of their artistic spirit remain in the Eastern philosophy of Taoism and Zen Buddhism. If the historical origin of art is considered, it could be said that ink painting and calligraphy are the nourishment of Chinese artists. For this reason, the creation of ekaggatā in ink landscape painting can correspond to the intuition and sensuality emphasized in abstract painting.

It is precisely this meaning and conceptual correspondence that led the Chinese artists of previous generation to engage in the abstract painting, and to try to use abstract painting as a reinterpretation of the spirit of oriental art. The exhibition attempts to re-interpret the meaning of “yipin”, and once again to explore the sense of creating ekaggatā and aesthetics in the abstract paintings of Chinese artists.

Wu Da-Yu (1903-1988) was born in Jiangsu. He is considered to be a representative of the first generation of Chinese abstract painting. His paintings are not limited by representation, as his brushwork is natural and unrestrained, his colors are bright and lyrical, and overall, his paintings are very abstract. Wu's idea of Dynamism inspired numerous Chinese artists, including Wu Guanzhong, Zao Wou-Ki, Chu Teh-Chun and others.

Li Chun-Shan (1912-1984) was born Guangdong. He was Taiwan's leading pioneer of abstract painting and widely regarded as the mentor of Taiwanese modern art.  His legacy was influential to Taiwan's most prolific modern art groups such as Ton-Fan Group and Fifth Moon Group. Li's paintings are deeply influenced by the Surrealism and the theory of the unconscious formulated by Sigmund Freud. The composition and lines of his paintings have oriental and calligraphic characteristics, and he combines the spirit of surrealism with abstract techniques to create his own surrealist abstract paintings.

Zao Wou-Ki (1920-2013) was born in Beijing. He went to France in 1948 and established his lyrical and abstract painting style. The accelerating momentum and tension in his painting gave viewers an interwoven imagination of the tangible and the intangible, the powerful and the ethereal. After the 1970s, the contexture of his picture became richer and more dynamic. He freely adjusted the visual temporal space, with assembly and disassembly, tangibility and intangibility, and thus really entered a free realm that was above and beyond. The success of Zao Wou-Ki is in his expression of the Chinese “Tao” and this form of “meditative spirit” by borrowing the abstract method of the West.

Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014) was born in Jiangsu. His style of painting is free-spirited, his brushwork is bold, and his mastery of light makes the paintings full of tension. The brush strokes, light and color shading form the spatial structure, giving the work the lyrical artistic conception of Chinese ink painting. For Chu Teh-chun, painting is about expressing his passionate feelings and the sense of nature. All of his inspirations come from nature.

Tommy Chen (1931-2017) was born in Shangdong. He co-founded Ton-Fan Group and was dubbed "The Eight Highwaymen of the East." Chen has been eager to explore the variations of materials, formations, and colors. He made use of the fluidity of water-based paints such as acrylics and watercolors to generate atlas-like tableaus vibrating with musical rhythms. The concrete matters and abstract momentum come to clash on the canvas to allow the mind to freely wander in time, reflecting his inner vibrancy of life and the capture of time.

Yan Hsia (1932-) was born in Hunan. He co-founded Ton-Fan Group and was dubbed "The Eight Highwaymen of the East." He uses acrylic paint to manipulate the spirit concentrated in Chinese calligraphy. His figures are bold and nimble, and combine the qualities of screen printing, paper cutting, literati and court painting, and other artifacts that he has studied and restored in the past. Combining literati interest in poetry and painting, Hsia touches on themes of modern life and childhood memories, and appropriates the traditional scroll format seen in landscape painting to form a new literary style of ideal scenery.

Hsiao Chin (1935-) was born in Shanghai. He co-founded Ton-Fan Group and was dubbed "The Eight Highwaymen of the East." His works are inspired by Taoism and Zen Buddhism. By combining traditional Chinese and western thought and materials, he achieves the spiritual self-awareness in himself, explores the journey of life and the potential of the mind, and realizes the true meaning of unity of Heaven and humanity. He finds a new way of combining and presenting traditional Chinese ideas and media, and offers an oriental perspective and appearance.