Liu Guosong (Liu Kuo-sung)

signed LIU GUOSONG, dated 1967 and with one seal of the artist

Hong Kong, HanArt TZ Gallery, 2003
Private Asian Collection

Overall in good condition
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Propelled by the explosion of creativity in the modern art movement in the West, Liu Kuo-sung quickly and decisively moved away from Abstract Expressionism in the 1960s to forge a style entirely of his own. His experimentation with texture and thickness of the ink is best visualized in Green Earth (1967), which employs vibrantly luminous shades similar to Western color field painting and executed in interpenetrating interspersed layers of acrylic and ink. Synthesizing both Eastern and Western styles and philosophies, Liu's personal pictorial formulae revitalized the tradition of Chinese landscape painting by combining bold, gestural brushwork with revolutionary non-brush techniques. During this critical early period Liu also perfected the recipe for his fibrous, textured "Liu Kuo-sung Paper". Traditionally, Chinese artists preferred to paint on smooth surfaces, eschewing cotton paper for its rough coarseness. For Liu, however, the natural texture of cotton offered a multitude of possibilities for creating atmosphere, depth, and perspective.