Lot 309: LU MING-TE

LU MING-TE B.1950 SPRING CELEBRATION Signed in pinyin, titled in Chinese and dated 2010 (lower right on frame edge) Executed in 2010 Mixed media on canvas 150 by 150 cm.; 59 by 59 in.

Private Asian Collection

Lu Ming-Te's Spring Celebration initiated a new series of conceptual, multi-media and multi-textual works by the artist, inspired by images from nature. Set in a lightly-applied pale-blue background, the artist depicts finely outlined mountains from valley to ridge, both wide and narrow, extending upwards layer upon layer. Concealed between simple texture strokes, the front and back of the mountains are given a sense of depth, rotating and extending, they are full of hidden meaning. From the upper left to the lower right, set at an oblique angle, the mountains occupy one-third of the canvas; in some places they are turbulent and at others, placid. In the lower left corner, a giant fish suddenly leaps out of the canvas, not only serving as a balance to the high mountains in the right corner, but also serving as a visual climax to the composition. On top of the mountain and seascape, the artist has deliberately filled the canvas with black, fine, twisting lines; stretched-out vines, winding flowers and plants, and dancing insects are spread out over the canvas.

Seemingly this painting is in the style of the fine-line paintings of Northern landscape painting, however, the material, picture and artistic concept is full of contemporary character and integrates old and new, multi-temporal, cross-generational and cross-cultural natural images to suit all tastes. The use of modern material and images of daily life seen in the use of canvas, pen and acrylic paint, as well as the two meticulously painted Japanese-style red and white striped flag and lighthouse, stand out from the work's composition, style and traditional folk-print lines. The artist liberates himself from traditional aesthetics, going one step further by changing traditional concepts of multi-media compositions and forming a cross-generational modern concept, and creating a new multi-media, cross-cultural image.

This way of painting indicates the artist's inheritance of Taiwan's multi-media experimental and vanguard spirit and also conveys his ardent wish to create a new image and lineage of art for this new century.

By Elsa Chen, Assistant Professor of Art History, School of Humanities and Social Science, National Yang Ming University, Taiwan