“In the composition, moving continuously, tying together, expressing, and appearing fleetingly in the visible world…”

William Turner, Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) – The Morning after the Deluge – Moses Writing the Book of Genesis, Oil on Canvas. Collection of Tate Britain, London

As a pioneer in art, Zao Wou-ki uses abstract vocabulary to express the Eastern spirit. Whether it is natural scenery, the concept that the Heavenly Person is at one with the universe, or the endless wonders of the power of Nature, the form of Zao's abstract oil paintings open up a never-before-seen, purer, more powerful expressive language for the Eastern spirit. On the other hand, these abstract paintings that blend the Chinese tradition of expressing sentiments through natural scenery and Eastern philosophy with the Western painting tradition — these paintings expand our horizons for viewing the world. Zao made innovative contributions to the context of art development in both the West and the East. He has become a representative of lyrical abstraction who stands alone in the world.

For Zao Wou-ki, after having lived through the many peaks and valleys of his life to that point, the 1990s was a stage where he could gradually move toward becoming truer to himself and calmly making his way in the world. Since the 1950s, Zao had gradually established his personal artistic style. Having experienced multiple stages of metamorphosis, his style of lyrical abstraction became more mature in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he revisited ink wash, and, in a triumph for his genius, began to use ink generously in his oil paintings. And in 1981, he was invited to hold a solo exhibition at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais. Not only was he the first Chinese person to have had this accomplishment, this also showed that the artist had attained a place of honor. Later, at an age where, as Confucius put it, he knew the will of Heaven, Zao never stopped creating and continued to make personal breakthroughs. Around 1989, he entered a new creative stage. During this period, the artist started using a cave-like composition, covering up the center from the outside. There was a significant difference from previous works in which the mountains are clustered in the center and radiate outwards, making the center of the composition the source of power. The new approach continued into the second half of the 1990s. The painting 30.9.97 uses precisely this covered up composition. Due to the lack of a clear visual focus, this sort of composition requires an even more refined and natural ability in structuring and handling colors to condense the force within the picture. The artist has used rich and bright orange and dark green in this work, creating a spiritual world that is at once solemn and serious, but also free and boundless.

When we look at the work 30.9.97, the beaming light golden yellow faces us. The continuously moving and formless posture, that nonetheless has its own energetic rhythm, becomes transformed into a dance within the void. Oranges and yellows of various brightnesses are rendered into layers, spilled, and fissured, creating a glazed golden beam. Like waves, like a sea of clouds, they run over a field of deep green. This field extends and changes all the way from the left of the painting: from light to dark, endlessly alternating through shades of light jade to dark green, then indigo. Like ever-changing jade, even the darkest tone keeps its clarity and brightness. The entire painting is full of rhythm and does not stagnate. The rich and delicate layers compile into a boundless ocean that cannot be fully plumbed in a single glance. Each detail is alluring, tempting the beholder to keep discovering more deeply and more distantly. And what is contained is the boundless meaning of undying nature. This is Zao Wou-ki's gift to the world. It lets us see the timeless cosmological light that circulates between the sky and the earth.

Poet, writer and art critic Yves Bonnefoy (1923-2016)commented in 1997, the year that Zao Wou-ki created 30.9.97: In his paintings, Zao Wou-ki is not in the slightest just making simple observations of color and form using his feelings. Rather, it is about his ability to coordinate. The shapes and colors are used but not stabilized. They coordinate with each other in the composition, moving continuously, tying together, expressing, and appearing fleetingly in the visible world… Around the edges of dissolving objects, they give us a peek at an amazing dawn unknowable in our usual lives. (Yves Bonnefoy, The Thought of Zao Wou-ki, Zao Wou-ki's Sixty Years of Painting, Shanghai Joint Publishing, 1999, pp.27-28. Originally published for the Zao Wou-ki exhibition at the Galerie Thessa Herold, Paris, November 1997 to February 1998.) Zao Wou-ki, who was passionate and persistent in both his internal life and his artistic career, lived through tumultuous times in history. He explored the seas of Eastern and Western culture, and walked a solitary path, one that he blazed for himself. Throughout his journey, his eventually transcended all the ups and downs. Displayed in the work 30.9.97, they naturally give off a solemn and intelligent glow, in a magnificent and mysterious world.

“In the composition, moving continuously, tying together, expressing, and appearing fleetingly in the visible world…”