Acrylic on canvas

120×180 cm. 47 1/4×70 7/8 in

LITERATURE
2016, Ming Ma——The Artist Upstairs, Sotheby’s Gallery, Hong Kong, p.29
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Hsiao Chin foundation with signature from the artist

An Endless Spiritual Adventure
Chuang Che’s Voiceless of the Valley IV
Chuang Che was born in Beijing in 1934. His father, Chuang Yen, was a well-known calligrapher who once served as an associate director of the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Under the influence of his father, Chuang Che developed a keen interest in art from an early age, and after moving with his family to Taiwan, he enrolled in the Institute of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University in 1954. After graduation, he became a key member of one of Taiwan’s major modern art groups, known as the Fifth Moon Group, and he sought to bring a brand-new look to Chinese painting. He later rose to fame in the art world, and after moving to the United States in the 1970s, he began to explore painting and abstract art theory and has achieved fruitful accomplishment in the nearly half a century since then. His creations combine brushwork with splashes of paint, applying the subtle spirit of Chinese traditional art to modern Western painting, which thereby allows the viewer to comprehend the interactions between humankind and the cosmos itself.
Chuang Che once remarked： “In my opinion, abstract art is an unending spiritual adventure.” In their effort to provide viewers with the greatest possible freedom of interpretation and imagination, some abstract artists frequently use the term “Untitled” to name their works, but Chuang Che is a notable exception. After completing a work, Chuang looks at it intently for a prolonged period of time to ascertain the true meaning of what he wishes to express. Voiceless of the Valley IV, completed in 2006, is a prime example. The artist has rendered the undulating mountain slope as smoothly as ink, and he has used a brushwork style similar to the semi-cursive script of Chinese calligraphy and heavy impasto strokes to depict the narrow valley below the mountain. Although the valley is deserted, Mother Nature has endowed it with a unique rhythm. In its constant flux between stasis and motion, this beautiful melody of nature is solely performed by flowing streams and towering mountains without the use of any instruments. The quiet echo reverberates through the open valley, as if awaiting the arrival of destined passersby who would even perhaps like to sing along.

Price estimate:
HKD: 450, 000 - 650, 000
USD: 57, 700 - 83, 300

Auction Result:
HKD: --