Kathleen Wu (王昭琳), an abstract painter regarded by critics as a “bridge between East and West,” will be returning to Taipei in mid-January (2014) to ring in the lunar new year with an exhibit of her recent work. The show marks her first in Taipei since her departurein 2001 from Taipei American School where she taught art for 35 years. She has been living in Massachusetts, and continues to paint actively, deriving inspiration from nature, family, her life and her interpersonal relationships.

The predominantly floral-themed show, titled “Lifting the Veil—Brilliance Re-Emerging,” consists of works in acrylic and oil on canvas, as well as watercolor. Each vibrantly displays her characteristic use of bold brush strokes and brilliant colors, which reflect her childhood memories in São Paulo, Brazil, and subsequent tutelage under Richard Lukosius while attending Connecticut College.  It was Lukosius whoinsisted that Wu explore her Asian heritage.  Upon moving to Taiwan in 1967 with her late husband, concert pianist and music professor Francis Wu (吳季札) whose father was Mr. John C. H. Wu, the first judicial doctorate of the Republic of China, who also drew up the country’s constitution and was its ambassador to the Vatican,Wu studied Chinese brush painting under masters OuHaoNien(歐豪年) and Wu Tse Sun (吳子深). Her latest works bridge East and West, where the drips, spatters, and colors of Western abstract art are infused with the serenity and discipline of Chinese brush painting.