White snow falls from the sky – small yet infinite – surrounding the scene. Objects become blurred as if in a dream. Some float, some stretch to the skies so as to paint an ethereal mountain immersed in clouds and flowing with surging rivers. Light and the shadow play with natural colors, dancing in an intoxicating yet enchanting rhythm.

After 1985, Chu Teh-Chun once again reached the height of his artistic creation. “I have done many paintings with various shades of white, inspired by the snow-capped mountains I saw in the Alps while traveling in Geneva. On a cloudy day, the white from the sea of clouds and the white of the snow were clearly discernible and changing constantly. This phenomenon filled my mind with images of clouds continuously floating on a bed of white. My spirit felt as though it was floating up and down in concert with the changes in the shade and density of that scene and in a flash, many of the familiar images portrayed in the Tang poems rushed into my head. I simply could not wait to go home and put these images on canvas. I wanted to capture in paint my feelings in that moment...” Chu’s inspiration for this remarkable work dawned on him when he was overlooking the mountain range from inside a plane, believing that the wonderful shapes he saw before him resemble the mountains and stones of ancient Chinese gardens. The work’s fluttering snowflakes and flying contours seem to dance to the rhythm of Chu’s paintbrush. Chu explored his feelings to discover and create a pure land, leading the viewers to walk deep into the realm he created. Colors flow and diverge with yellow, red, and orange dotted on a winter green and blue, which free the shapes hidden beneath them.

Chu’s abstract landscape combines the pulsation of the air. The air breathes from the broad horizon and the deep abyss, constructing a dreamy space where people may explore the depths of their minds. Although he preferred to use oil paint as his medium, he was also capable of presenting a sort of gradation and transparency that is only seen in Chinese ink paintings. Between the fantastic and the real, at the origin of creation, light expands toward the infinity. Chu’s paintings seem to come from a foreign realm, but in manner of which viewers can fully comprehend. They narrate a story of an artist encountering nature. In his paintings, Chu uses pure lyrical abstraction to represent beautiful and natural scenery that reignites the emotions of dim memories, celebrating them as something eternal.

During an interview, Chu quoted Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), the pioneer of abstract art, “Abstract art does not break away from nature. Instead, it connects with nature more deeply than any other art form… All external objects must involve intrinsic elements.” Chu also said that Paul Klee (1879-1940) revealed the truth of art: “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” Instead of being restrained by forms, abstract art is similar to the concepts of Chinese painting in that it values significance over form. The renowned Chinese artist Fan Kuan said, “Those learning from people are less than those learning from objects; those learning from objects are less than those learning from the heart.” Ancient Chinese painter Zhang Cao also stressed the importance of “learning from nature and making artistic creation from the heart.” The deep connection between nature and the mind is where Chinese and Western art meet.

Chu drew on Western experience and developed the aesthetic values of the Tang and Song Dynasties in China to create his “formless” paintings. His achievement was a veritable extension of Chinese painting aesthetics. When creating this work in 1986, Chu had undergone a thirty-year period of exploration and realization. With this experience and insight, whenever his brush touched the canvas, the nature of the medium and the self were blended into one world. Chu found himself through abstract art and blended his favorite Chinese poetry and classical Western music into his artwork, creating the unique artistic language we see in his work today.