WU GUANZHONG (1919-2010)

Wu Guanzhong long admired the majestic two thousand year-old pine tree on the Tai Mountains known as the Fifth-Rank Pine. When he first climbed the Tai Mountains in the 1980s, the artist sketched the pine tree from multiple angles in an attempt to capture its regal spirit, yet the resulting paintings left Wu dissatisfied with his efforts.
In his essay, Unbroken Line of the Kite, Wu Guanzhong describes the moment of epiphany he experienced when he finally felt his art began to connect to the spirit of the magnificent pine tree: ''Suddenly I felt it charging towards me, overwhelming meKlike Rodin's Burghers of Calais, the indomitable warrior of the natural worldK I tried to capture the soul of the pine, to represent its struggles and jaggedness with wild ink lines, with lines in continuous motion freeing its noble soulKthe tranquil straight lines in grey stand in contrast to the surging lines in ink, and they collide and occlude and shatter in their explosive colour sparks all over the mountains. Are these sparks not merely remnants of nature's once chaotic times?'