PAINTINGS BY LIU KUO-SUNG

East Meets West

At Gallery 100. A young Chinese artist, Liu Kuo-Sung, who combines in his work a sense of Eastern tradition and a Western abstract approach is showing his ink paintings at Gallery 100 through January.

As with most Oriental art, one can find greater enjoyment and appreciation by spending time looking into the content of the pictures. To begin with, the presentation is quietly elegant and fitting, each painting being mounted on fine silk and paper as in a scroll or flatly framed in brocades of blending color. The actual color tones of the paintings themselves are not bright but as the strength of composition and contrast becomes evident, the few deep blues, and mossy greens, a delicate mauve or ochre takes on insistent vibrance.

Liu Kuo-Sung’s choice of subject reveals his sensitivity towards nature. Landscape, as such, is unimportant in his scheme, but the effects of its elements are the key. One gets a clue from the titles: “Echo in the Valley,” “Thaw,” “Water is Busy,” etc. and as one dreams into these pictures the feeling of damp mist rising from melting snow banks, the fury of “white water” or sounds and moods may capture the imagination.

The ink paintings seem to divide into two categories: those done in overall compositions of constant movement and those which must have a simple obvious and very powerful design. From the former group we chose “Jeu of Clouds” as being one of the most moving and delightful pictures which, while wholly abstract, is yet reminiscent of the classic Chinese. Of the latter type there are several outstanding paintings which define hard and soft contrasts: “White Clouds and Autumn Peak” presents a mixture of elements, one illusive and soft flowing past another which is hard and impenetrable. “Snow and Rocks” works with the same basic strength of rock beneath the attack of driving snow and “Water is Busy” lives up to the title and is just plain exciting.

Active Career.    Born in Nanking thirty-two years ago, Liu Kuo-Sung graduated from Taiwan University with a B.A. in Fine Arts and has been absorbed ever since in all phases of art. He is the founder and leader of the Fifth Moon Group of young painters who have exhibited each May of every year since 1956 seeking “to express in Western abstract terms the ancient Chinese spirit of serene classicism.” Liu Kuo-Sung has represented Taiwan in many international exhibits, has written over seventy articles on art and currently is working on his third book on painting.

He is one of six contemporary Chinese artists whose work is touring the U.S.A. under a John D. Rockefeller III Fund and he, himself, is in this country for the first time as recipient of a two-year grant for work and study here and in Europe under the auspices of the Institute of International Education.

Having seen his work, one cannot fail to enjoy the delightful and appropriate comment in the Gallery 100 biography: “in spite of all the vigor and drive that have enabled him to accomplish so much so soon, Liu Kuo-Sung remains personally relaxed and modest and readily amused.”