Reflections of Floating Islands
Wu Chi-Tao
吳繼濤
Production date
2015
Object Detail
Media
ink and pigment on handmade paper
Measurements
14 pieces, framed 43 x 32 cm each
Notes
Wu Chi-Tao is immersed in the history of Chinese shan shui landscape painting. He has studied every detail of ink paintings by Song and Ming Dynasty masters in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, applying his knowledge to recording fragile and endangered ecosystems – the shorelines, cliffs, reefs and islands off the coast of Taiwan. The 12 separate paintings that make up Reflections of Floating Islands take the form of ‘album leaves’ to be read from right to left in the traditional manner, on shu xuan paper like those painted by the scholarly literati in imperial times. Like a scholar painter in the imperial past Wu even grinds his own ink from natural pigments such as malachite and cinnabar, mixed with deer-horn gelatin. Each album leaf documents a specific time and place, a diary that reflects the artist’s growing concerns about the environmental damage that he sees in even in the remotest stretches of his island.
Accession number
2015.419