LIU KUO-SUNG (LIU GUOSONG, TAIWAN, B. 1932)

In 1963, Liu Kuo-Sung incidentally found a type of paper used for lanterns. The special property of paper fibres renders intricate and complex white veins floating on ink traces if one looks from the back. Untitled (Lot 558) was created in the mid-1960s when Liu first uses a large brush dipped in ink to define basic calligraphic lines on paper, like the splash in the top section of Untitled. The artist then adorns the centre brushstroke with cyanine, shadows the top right of the painting with light ink, before finally plucking all fibres from the paper. The result is feibai recklessly scampering between ink and colour. The different effects of embellished fibre on light ink and blank space are accentuated in this work, enriching its texture while creating an atmosphere of 'spirituality lingers where ink has yet been'. Liu confronts traditional aesthetics of the black-white harmony ('accounting white as black') by his unique fibre-plucking technique –'plucking sinew and peeling skin' refers to plucking fibres after applying ink and colour to paper, creating a feibai effect of white streaks similar to traditional calligraphy brushstrokes. Just as this technique made its mark in history through its inventor, this special paper deservedly bears Liu's name.