Featuring Chu’s works from 2011 to 2013 - Chu tends to capture his discoveries and experiments of abstract painting at every level. In his unrestrained brush-strokes, he shows a certain autonomy of art. The exhibition coincides with Non-Zero Point: 2013 Abstract Art of Ava Hsueh, eliciting spatial dialogues with works of both artists.

In Chu Teh-I’s most recent works, his style of painterly spatial presentation, which he has been searching for since the 1980s, can be observed; however, it seems that he has conducted new attempts in colors and creating sense of space. Some of these new works break free from the heavy or bold images in the past, and have become brighter and more colorful. Particularly, the evenly colored planes in the paintings, such as “Variation/D1203”, “Variation/E1206”, and “Colors and Forms/E1307”, feature brighter colors unlike past works. The paintings mainly depict surfaces where negative and positive spaces continuously intersect, irregular free splashes of paint also remain in a high proportion. Compared to past works, however, there are less ambiguous patches of mixed colors, presenting a solo of a single color. The mixed, intertwined colors are revealed among other layered color patches and the negative space created from peeling off white glue; together, the different layers become evidences to one another’s existence. In the seemingly natural and logical collocation hides the spatial image that could be deep or flat, and that image is incorporated into the entire painting.

As for space, it seems that there are more about it to be explored. The two-dimensional space on canvas is the viewers’ established visual field, but Chu Teh-I’s abstract creations attempt to look for space beyond space. Those indescribable factors in his paintings that constantly interfere with visual perception may very likely be the manifestation of the artist’s innocent views regarding painting resulted from the years he pondered on the issues of color and shape. The meticulous order related to shape is kept in some insistences of shape. Other than that, fluidness and freedom are the ones guaranteeing the possibility of another breakthrough in the old issue of space.

Born in 1952, Chu Teh-I began his formal training in fine arts during his studies in National Normal University. He also travelled regularly to Changhua to take private painting lessons from Li Chun-Shan, who was famed for his unorthodox approach to teaching art. This inspired Chu to embark on a journey to self-discovery and artistic vision. After graduating from the National Taiwan Normal University in 1976, Chu travelled to France to further his artistic training. He earned a Master’s Degree (Diploma de Decorateur-Specialisation Arts-Plastiques Peinture) from L’Ecole nationale Superieure Des Arts- Decoratifs De Paris, France in 1983, and a Master’s Degree (Diplome Superieure D’art Plastique) from the prestigious L’Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Beaux- Arts De Paris, France in the following years. He soon returned to Taiwan to teach at the then recently founded National Institute of the Arts (now Taipei National University of the Arts), while at the same time continued to practice creative arts. He’s paintings have been widely collected by the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts as well as by many other art museums nationwide and in many other countries.

Image: © Chu Teh-I, Tina Keng Gallery