Catalogues - Lin Chuan-chu

After spending six years on Family Stories from 2002 to 2007, Lin Chuan-Chu continued by painting landscapes. This exhibition displays 16 works created from 2007-2008. These paintings are divided into three categories: the first group of landscape paintings are made directly from nature over a period of time; the second group was painted after the artist turned his attention to his inner personal feelings, and painted odes to the qin, books or the moon; and the third group is of heavier, more moody and rocklike forms. All of the paintings illustrate hills and ponds, mountains and rocks with contrasting areas of clouds and mist running throughout, and are all ultimately visualizations of his inner spirit.

Landscape painting has existed in our culture for a long time, and essentially is an ancient art form. However, there are definitely some abstract aspects to Chinese landscape painting, such as the painter’s taste, temperament and thinking, and this is no different than how it was in ancient times. Simultaneously, landscape painting can be a way for people to escape their everyday lives and to find a haven from society, or serve as an ultimate place of refuge for their souls, and this is exactly because it refers to a place of unique beauty and charm that isn't of our world. Chinese landscape painting isn't just limited to scenery but also reveals the individual spirit, so these landscape paintings also reflected the artist's real life and the change of mind.