» Cyano-collage 051

Cyano-collage substitutes ink and brush strokes used in traditional Chinese Shan Shui with experimental photography to interpret the imagery of landscape in Eastern culture.

As the artist reflects, “In the early spring of 2015, Mr. Ni Tsai-Chin, a prestigious artist and art critic in Taiwan, died of disease. When learning the news, I recalled a summer vacation more than 10 years ago when some friends and I served as assistants of Mr. Ni. We experienced a memorable summer in Mr. Ni’s dormitory in Tunghai University. Being indulged in calligraphy and ink art all day, we often chatted extensively from southern transition of Chinese landscape paintings in the Song dynasty to the western art made in Taiwan. His expanded horizons, insightful arguments, integrated knowledge of traditional and contemporary arts, and persistence in defending cultural subjectivity have nourished my art development since my novice periods. 

“To commemorate Mr. Ni, I present Cyano-collage in the form of an ink painting collage, Mr. Ni’s conventional method, combined with wrinkled and textured cyanotype paper. Xuan paper with a photosensitive coating was crumpled and exposed under sunlight to record the lighting and shading throughout the day. A selection from dozens of pieces of cyanotype photographic paper was reorganized and edited before collaging on a canvas. The work is then displayed in a style resembling both Chinese Shan Shui and photomontage.”

The work is on permanent display at the Khai Sang headquarters, Paragon, HCMC, Vietnam.