Artist：Yu-Jen HSU
Curator：Ke-Jun XIA
Opening：03.11(Sat.)  14:00
Venue：Chini Gallery


Forum：Survival Conscoiusness Embodied by the Brush Style

Forum I
Date 03.11(Sat.)   15:30
Venue Chini Gallery
Speakers Yu-Jen HSU vs. Ke-Jun XIA

Forum II
Date 03.13 (Mon.) 14:00-17:00
Venue Room F215, Taipei National University of the Arts
Speaker Yu-Jen HSU vs. Ke-Jun XIA vs.
Hong-John Lin

About the Curator

Xia Kejun, is a philosopher, art critic and curator born in 1969. He received a PhD in philosophy from Wuhan University in 2001, and studied at University of Freiburg in Germany (KAAD Scholarship) and University of Strasbourg in France between 2003 and 2006. He joined the faculty of the Renmin University School of Literary Studies in 2007. To date, he has published nearly ten books, including the essay collection Rest-Rien et Passage-Touch, the contemporary art exhibition texts Infra-Mince: Duchamp and Chuang-Tzu and Infra-White: Non-Dimensionality and Reverse Reconstruction, Empty Cold: Chora-topia of Nature, the treatise on shanshui painting The Philosophy of Blandness, the treatise on calligraphy The Joy of Graphic-Writing, the works on traditional Chinese philosophy Chuang Tzu: Illusion and Life, Lectures on the Analects and Middle Path Interpretations of Time, the treatise on poetry The Poetry of Posture and the treatise on Western philosophy The Body. Xia Kejun is seeking a new path for Chinese philosophy in the world through the philosophical concept of “rest” or Remains and has proposed the concepts of “non-dimensionality”, Chora-topia and “infra-mince” in Chinese contemporary art.

The Strength and Sensibility of Hsu Yu-Jen’s Ink Painting: the Charm of Delicate Brushstrokes

Curator  Ke-Jun XIA

Where did ink and brush come from? Where have they gained their power? Are they still rooted in the earth, in different seasons, the wrinkled faces, and the fate foretold by the palm lines? Do they reflect the bitterness and difficulties in life? When one sees Hsu Yu-Jen’s ink painting, one immediate sees the origin of the forces in life and nature, perceiving the face of the earth, the configuration of his character, and the contour of his soul.

With extremely perceptive sensibility, Hsu has conveyed dissimilar charms through his thin-brush ink painting and rough-brush ink painting series. His Thin-brush Series has inherited the thin and upright style of traditional ink landscape. This tradition began with Ni Zan, who used the iterative wrinkle skill to delineate the harmonious landscape of the “one river and two riverbanks” style. In the Ming dynasty, Lu Chih, whose style was elegant and pure, painted gaunt and elongated landscape with clear and definite lines. Until the late Ming dynasty, there were Jian Jiang, who was known for his elegant and refined landscape delineation, and Hsiao Yun, who was influenced by woodcuts in Christian art and created landscape with dense, carving-like lines, showing the artist’s “backbone” or “moral integrity.” Hsu’s painting is similar to this tradition; however, he has incorporated an awareness of the modernity his work, adding a quality of abstract simplification, which displays the anxiety of survival and personal distress, embodying the charm of “brushstrokes might break but not the thoughts” and integrating the fragmentedness and etherealness. His Rough-brush Series, whether it foregrounds flowers or old trees, conveys the valiant quality of an old hero that would not succumb to the difficulties in the world. In between all the turns and twists of the lines, his painting has gained powerful texture that suggests a strong presence, and thus, gives his ink a heroic quality as well as incomparable magnificence.

Contextualizing Hsu’s work in Chinese modern ink painting, one can be sure of its definite value. First of all, his work does not fall the category of new literati painting that follows the traditional form although it does embody highly modern individualistic characteristics. Secondly, his work is not abstract ink painting even though part of his Thin-brush Series shows simplified abstraction. His ink painting still retains an impression of the traditional landscape. Thirdly, his work is not a representation of the modern life scene and its reproduction in the genre of new ink painting. However, his ordinary flowers have obtained a transcendental quality with the acute sensibility of his brush. In between breaking the rhythmic writing of pain and bitterness, in between interweaving the self-strengthening yet freewheeling dry and rough brushstrokes, the sublime of tragedy and the joy of contentedness have been integrated in an incredible way. It symbolizes the self-healing process of life. In the unique and extreme transfiguration in his composition, his ink painting has gained individual characteristics and a profound charm of modern aesthetics.