LO Ch'ing, a renowned Taiwanese artist and poet who was nominated for the 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature, demonstrates both artistic and literary skills in an exhibition at Shanghai's Degas Art Center.
Plum Blossom - Chinese Painting
Lo's works have been widely collected by many museums around the world, including the British Museum and Royal Ontario Museum.It is Lo's first exhibition in Shanghai and part of a series of art exchanges between Shanghai and Taiwan, says Fredie Chiu, director of the art center.Many of Lo's minimalist works are accompanied by his poetry.Compared with their peers on the Chinese mainland, Taiwanese artists place more emphasis on ambience than technique and Lo is no exception.
"A few simple brush strokes can yield a sublime ambience and scattered ink speckles become a powerful creative spring," Lo said.
Born in 1948 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, Lo began his formal study of Chinese painting and calligraphy at the age of 13. He studied the blue-and-green landscape style under Pu Ru, the cousin of China's last emperor Aisin-Gioro Puyi. Pu Ru is a master of China's Northern School of painting.
Later, under Ru Yi, a Zen Buddhist monk, Lo learned the impressionistic "splashing ink" style of the Southern School. At the same time, he started to write modern poetry, trying to revitalize and usher the time-honored poetry-painting tradition.
Lo studied comparative literature at Washington State University in the United States and was a professor in the English and art departments and the graduate institute of translation and interpretation.
Lo is one of the few modern Chinese painters who effectively unites modern poetry and ink color painting. He utilizes traditional, folk and modern pictorial orientations and creates works of surrealistic symbolism with a post-modern touch.
"Chinese vignettes have been popular since the 11th century, written on round fans and album covers and featuring subjects like idyllic landscapes, flowers and birds and reclusive figures," Lo says."What I have done is to continue and develop this special ancient art genre."
