Artnet: Chinese Landscape Painting With Video, Light, and a Big Dose of Chance
Artnet專訪: 由影像、光與隨機性組成的水墨畫

2021-11-18 author

Wu Chi-Tsung Is Drawing Global Notice for Revamping Chinese Landscape Painting With Video, Light, and a Big Dose of Chance The Taiwanese artist hopes his journey to the international stage might be an inspiration for other young artists from Asia. When the artist Wu Chi-Tsung decided to take a leap of faith and seek representation outside his native Taiwan five years ago, he might have only hoped that it was the start of a global adventure. His travels have since taken him to Hong Kong, Berlin and now the U.S., where the 40-year-old has his first solo show this week at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York. Wu sees the exhibition as a major breakthrough not only for his own career but also, possibly, for other Asian artists of his generation. “I really hope this journey, one that has been full of trial and error in finding a way out, can inspire more young artists to go out to find opportunities, to see this big world,” Wu told Artnet News, speaking on a video call from the New York gallery where he was putting the final touches on his exhibition “Wu Chi-Tsung: jing-atmospheres“, opening on November 4. The embrace of the unknown not only forms the basis of Wu’s philosophy towards his life, but his artistic practice as well. From the production process to the final outcome, his work is often full of surprises, even to the artist himself. Take his well-known Cyano-Collage series, for example. They might look like traditional Chinese ink landscape paintings from afar, but on closer inspection, the works are an amazing illusion created using cyanotypes on Xuan paper, which is treated with a photosensitive coating and then exposed in the sunlight. The paper is crumpled, forming wrinkles and cracks. Each piece is an experiment, and when they are all put together, they form a collaged image that might resemble a mountain, or sometimes glaciers, or stormy seas. “Most artists have a strong ego. We try to control our work,” Wu said. “But the more you try to control it, the more likely you lose the possibility. Sometimes, we should…

Wu Chi-Tsung’s Solo Exhibition Jing-atmospheres at Sean Kelly New York
美國首次個展《境》於尚凱利畫廊

2021-11-02 author

jing-atmospheresDates November 5 – December 18, 2021Opening Reception Thursday, November 4, 6-8pm Sean Kelly is delighted to present jing-atmospheres, Wu Chi-Tsung’s first solo exhibition in the gallery and indeed the United States. Chi-Tsung’s innovative body of work encompasses a broad range of media including photography, video, installation, and painting, in which he combines traditional and contemporary forms and methodologies to explore perceptions of the physical and natural worlds. This exhibition features new Cyano-Collages, videos, and an immersive film installation. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, November 4 from 6-8pm, the artist will be present at the gallery. Wu Chi-Tsung was trained from an early age in the traditions of Chinese calligraphy, Chinese ink painting, watercolor, and drawing, and worked in these time-honored idioms for many years. While those practices still inform his process, Chi-Tsung’s current work seeks to understand how media and technology are manipulated to represent our relationship to the world. In the main gallery, there are new iterations of his Cyano-Collage series, in which he connects Eastern and Western culture and art to integrate traditional aesthetics within a striking contemporary language. His Cyano-Collages replace the traditional ink and brush used in Chinese shan shui paintings –literally, “mountain-water-pictures”—with experimental photography to reinvigorate the traditional landscape language. To create these stunning images, Chi-Tsung prepares hundreds of cyanotype photographic papers—Xuan paper treated with a photosensitive coating—that are crumpled, exposed to sunlight, and then mounted onto aluminum, creating a spectrum of tonalities. The results are collaged images that resemble the mountainous landscapes often found in Chinese shan shui paintings, but which are produced using completely a contemporary process. Utilizing video, installation, and photography, Wu Chi-Tsung discovered in these new media compelling conceptual stratagems that spurred new and dynamic approaches to image making. Featured in the main gallery are two new films from Wu Chi-Tsung’s Still Life series, that conceptually translate motifs of traditional cut-branch flower painting into time-based moving images. Describing these works, Chi-Tsung stated that they are inspired, “by a cherished memory of painting; however, the mourning over this lost memory might not be limited to painting only. Some nameless emotions…