THE MONUMENTAL PORTRAIT OF HUMANITY

CHIU YA-TSAI

Chiu Ya-tsai's works predicates upon ideal archetypes in human nature, his portraits seem to accrue a certain public grandeur reminiscence of historical personages. There is always a hint of the old world in Chiu's art as he believes that humanity can be best portrayed by the ancient Confucius and the great figures from classic literatures such as Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky. Clown is imbued with an air of nostalgia as the dark opaque backdrop executes the brushstrokes encompassing the complexion of the central man, ascetically adorned with burgundy amber-red on his cheeks and chin below a band of coloring covering his brow that is reminiscent of the face-paint of a clown. The calmness portrait by the central melancholic figure appears to be indulging in a moment of deep rumination in the nest of his malaise; perhaps there is a deeper message underneath the external appearance of this specific clown that the artist attempts to convey. In essence, Chiu deliberately rid his central figures in his portraits of excessive facial emotions as he regards expressions as fickle with a tendency to deviate and fluctuates continuously. Instead, the artist strived to paint the inner spirit and temperament of his subjects. Chiu's figures are in essence his personal unique idealized visions with essences of refinement as he instills a narrative quality to these complex characters.

The artist yearns for orders within the composition and out of the chaos and the unreadable emotions of these memorable archetypes results in Chiu’s unforgettable portraits. Chiu insisted that the spirit of his art is a derivative of the figure paintings dated to the Tang and Sung Dynasties. Similar to the ancient depictions of scholars and officials, the faces and gesture of his subjects are connotative of personality and an individual mindset. In essence, Chiu's synthesizes traditions of Classical Chinese portraiture with Western elements, which results in parallels between his characters and those of Modigliani. It is Chiu Ya-tsai's old-fashioned faith in history and the wisdom of great men that prompt his paintings. Chiu's figures are truly portraits in that they are always poised and limited in body language, which work magnificently in portraying the precarious nature of man's being with a touch of mystery.