WU Tseng Jung’s paintings reflect his quiet personality and spiritual pursuit. His works wander between the concrete and the abstract, the negative spaces and the color palettes, and his style shifts between oil and ink brush paintings. This isn’t him falling back on eclecticism, but rather an incessant effort of exploring different aesthetic possibilities. We can find traces of different styles and influences in his work, such as the bright and fuzzy colors of Taiwan’s landscape, the sense of coolness and distance of Japanese aesthetics, as well as the feeling of solitude and harmony with nature exuded in Chinese literati paintings. He is a modern literati who walks his own path. Despite having lived most of his life in the metropolis of Taipei, WU’s heart and soul always belongs to the expansive mountains ranges and endless skies.
WU is turning 80 years of age this year. He was once a rising star in Taiwan’s architecture scene. Much to the surprise of his peers, WU abruptly left the industry in his middle years and decided to pursue a career in painting in an effort to have complete control over the creative process. Though he never received any formal art training, WU learned from renowned painter Read Lee. The experience has elevated him above the rank of amateurs and allowed him to break free from academic traditions and to explore new grounds in his techniques and visual language. His idiosyncratic technique of spraying his works with water helps adding a sense of weight to his water color paintings and enriches the texture to match that of oil paintings. The literati aesthetics in his work is also akin to that of ink brush paintings, exuding a sense of profundity and vastness. WU infuses the artistic language of both the oil painting and the ink brush painting in his works in order to push the envelope and mix both the eastern and western aesthetics in his works.
The Concrete and the Abstract
Other than some of his early work that lean towards realism and expressionism, most of WU Tseng Jung’s paintings often wander between the concrete and the abstract while fusing elements from both. One of the standouts in the exhibition “Mountain Tones” is “Distant View of Mount Jade”. WU splits up the frame roughly into three horizontal sections, each dominated by a different color palette. In essence, he has portrayed the mountainscape of Mount Jade with techniques akin to that of abstract and ink brush paintings, and was therefore able to convey the colossal presence and grand energy of the mountain with a few brush strokes. The two patches in the background of the composition are two different degrees of brownish green. They establish a sense of visual balance with the mountain peak in the foreground as well as allow room for the viewer to extend their eyes into the distant sky. The painting is both a portrayal of an external landscape and a projection of WU’s internal pride and fortitude.
The frequent portrayal of Mount Dabajian and Mount Jade in his paintings is, in a way, the artist’s way of painting self-portraits. These mountains stand tall and firm, which points to the artist’s inner pursuit for excellence and to conquer new peaks and challenges. WU’s favorite painting is one about a mountain, called “Mount Dabajian”. (Made in 2007, previously shown in the 2021 group exhibition “Mountain is Like a Monster”) The work shows the mountain from a close-up point of view and in dramatic light, which accentuates its grandeur. The inspiration for the rather romanticist composition comes from a beautiful piece of memory of a trip where the artist and his son climbed up Mount Dabajian before sunrise, a journey that was as challenging as it was meaningful for both of them. It was for this reason that the painting is considered by WU as his family heirloom. The shared emotional experience of climbing a tall mountain and the subsequent artistic expression of the journey are something that the artist hopes to pass onto future generations.
Color Patches in Space and Emotions in Landscape
Another standout quality of WU Tseng Jung’s painting is his construction of space, which is deeply rooted in his background in architecture and in the eastern literati aesthetics. In “The White Trellis in the North Side of Drunken Moon Lake”, “There’s A White Dog in Front of NTU School of Veterinary Medicine” and “Viewing Mount Nenggao from Mount Qilai”, WU has painted large color palettes with rich textures and subtle variations. And with these nuances, he has created an atmosphere similar to that of literati paintings and ink brush paintings. In “Viewing Mount Nenggao from Mount Qilai”, WU has embedded visual signatures such as traces of water flow in the inky black foreground. In “There’s A White Dog in Front of NTU School of Veterinary Medicine”, we can clearly see WU’s architectural training and artistic temperament coming together. The sharp contours of the main building creates a distinct sense of volume, whereas the dark green color patches fill the space; A white dog stands out on the bottom right corner of the canvas much like a small piece of collage, adding a lively energy and a point of visual interest on the otherwise uniform palette.
If Mount Dabajian and Mount Jade represent the mountainscape in WU Tseng Jung’s paintings, Drunken Moon Lake, with its endless, ocean-like waves, represents the imagery of water. Among the few dozen paintings WU has painted of Drunken Moon Lake, the artist has created a wide range of compositions and atmospheres. In “Seven Women Wandering Around Drunken Moon Lake”, WU has showcased an idle, fun-filled moment in everyday life, whereas “The White Trellis in the North Side of Drunken Moon Lake” is created in a manner similar to the literati paintings, an artistic signature of China’s Song Dynasty. The composition and colors of “Overlooking Drunken Moon Lake” are rendered in a similar fashion to that of the 18th century ukiyo-e. The many faces and seemingly endless variations of the Drunken Moon Lake in WU’s paintings are the result of his expressive techniques and additional touches such as spraying the painting surfaces with water to add textures.
Clarity in Stoicism, Profundity in Stillness
In “Three Black Dogs”, completed between 1996 and 2000, WU paints three dogs racing through a vast, endless landscape. This bleak and profound vision is a unique fusion of eastern aesthetics and abstract techniques. The diluted paint under his paintbrush ended up rendering saturated palettes and emotions. In “A Puppy in Moonlight”, the multiple shades of dark green in the backgrounds accentuate the white moon and small dog. The near-abstract minimalism of the composition reflects the eastern philosophy that emphasizes on refining one’s own thoughts and spirit. It is also an expression of WU’s romantic sentiments and his inner pursuit for spirituality.
The most touching element in WU Tseng Jung’s creative journey, apart from his unique visual language, is the purity and spirituality of his artistic pursuit. By the time he decided to stop painting in 2019, WU had completed close to 500 paintings in the span of three decades. He embarked on this journey at his own pace and watered his garden of art with passion and life-long dedication. He understands where his paintings sit in the grand scheme of art and he lets history be the final judge while patiently awaiting those who truly understand his work. In his advanced age, WU has shown us a way of life where a creator completely devotes himself to his work. It is thanks to such pure spirit that WU’s paintings often exude a sense of clarity and profundity.
