Swinging Strokes Like Gyratory Multiple Strings ── Lo Tsen’s Abstract Ink Paintings by Xiao Qiong-Rui, 2016
Lo Tsen is an artist who rose to prominence in Taiwan’s painting circle in the early 1980s. Her first Taiwan solo exhibition took place in Printmakers’ Gallery, Taipei in 1981, but, before that, she had had two solo exhibitions in the Philippines. A surrealist style and semi-abstract form of the human body were used to express her feelings on life -- which have won many accolades in the art world.
Born in turbulent times, Lo came to Taiwan from Xianmen in mainland China. Perhaps as a result of her unstable childhood, in her subconscious, she built up deep feelings for people’s suffering rather than a luscious experience. Since her earliest years, she always enjoyed painting, then, as an adult, started receiving a training from a master, Wu Hao. He was then one member of the so-called “Eight Greatest Galloping Horses” in the avant-garde “Orient Art Group” movement in Taiwan. Wu showed Lo how to explore and master the concept of confronting self-consciousness. Later, Lo married a diplomat and accompanied him to the Philippines where he became the ambassador. Here, a local well-known painter Ang Kiukok took over as the supervisor of her painting.
It’s hard to associate Lo Tsen’s physical beauty and background as an ambassador’s wife with the sorrow and despair of her paintings. However, it’s obvious that painting has become the crucial therapy for her innermost inadequacy, wounds and trauma. She once said: “The soul seems like a tattered jacket, which needs to be mended with care and devotion. A work of art is like imagery of a monk’s robe of many patches.”
Her early works present a sense of vagrancy, desolation, and loneliness. Apart from human flesh, she also painted landscapes with views like low, old and broken houses, ruins, and even scenes of fire devastation. This was her prolific period when Lo had a solo exhibition almost every year. She became known as “the female painter from the Philippines”, giving a curious and profound impression to Taipei’s art scene.
The year 1998 is important time for Lo’s life and art. She accompanied her husband to India. Here, she had a refreshing experience and intellectual transition in the 17 years until her first solo exhibition. Because of her husband’s job in the diplomatic service, the family needed to move every three or four years. With a cross-ocean and cross-continent lifestyle, Lo’s way of life had to change dramatically -- continuing adjustment and absorbing and learning between oriental and occidental cultures. However, it was 1998 in New Delhi when Lo was most conflicted yet at the same time enjoyed the most inspiring experience of her travels. India has an ancient civilization, great historical relics, unique and lively customs as well as a rich and mysterious religious atmosphere – all these factors added to Lo’s strong sensitivity towards the sufferings of others.
This sensitivity came mainly from her personal feelings and experiences, often involving some kind of philosophical meditation and even anxiety. Since the mid-1990s, all the wars across Europe and Africa affected her a great deal. On TV, she saw how humans could kill each other in atrocities and scenes of destruction. During that time, Lo created works such as ‘Fate’, ‘Transformation’, ‘Questions to Heaven’, ‘All Mortals’, ‘Pathétique Chronical’, and ‘The Earth’s Illustrations’ -- which are all called a “Series of Deep Sorrow”. These seem as if mankind’s screaming and denunciations are raised out of compassion and awakening.
Living in India in 1998 helped Lo’s mind settle and offered her an exit from what she called her “deep sorrow”. Here is the place which was once a “land of suffering at utmost”, yet nurtures the most profound philosophy and religion. It also inspired Lo to look at suffering with a new attitude and approach – to bring back the original and authentic self.
Having experienced the three-step realm – “perceive as you see, believe not what you perceive, then accept what you see as they are”, Lo started realising that one’s pain and disturbance have come from a “sense of differentiation” inferring imbalance between humans and humans, between species and species. How can this sense of differentiation be removed? A crucial approach is involved with self-reflection and self-consciousness, which mean tolerance and respect towards others and rediscovery and reassurance towards the self.
In such an awareness, Lo transferred her outward attention to looking inward. Starting dismantling and diluting elements in aesthetics, she abandoned the human form instead returning to calligraphy which was so familiar but had been deserted for a long time. With flowing lines and simplified colours, Lo’s pictures were developed into a pure self-presentation. The series of works, “Genes’ Illustrations”, were first created in 2006. For 10 years after that, Lo’s works evolved in this context.
Looking at Lo’s recent works, from 2011 to 2016, we can still see her continuity of acrylic paint, but most of all her more attempt to concentrate on abstract ink paintings. According to form, there are two categories and five stages in her works -- the former includes pure ink and colour ink; and the latter goes on developing within these two categories. The five stages demonstrate various results, that is, 2011’s linear ink, 2013’s colour ink with blue and white, 2014’s return back to pure ink presentation, 2015 to 2016’s multi-colour, and 2016’s pure ink with multi-phase extensional composition.
Generally speaking, it can be complimentarily described as “swinging strokes like gyratory multiple strings”. What does “gyratory multiple strings” mean? They are Lo’s works in which linear ink brushes are composed of thin hair-like lines, just like music having melody with chords, offering a sense of overwhelming vibrancy. Why are the strokes described as “swinging”? It refers to the idea that her linear composition is a type of repeated changing of styles in various stages. It is not developed through evolution of straight lines, but through swinging forwards and backwards, along with continuous turning and expansion.
For example, the “Dialogue” from 2011 is a work composed of three pieces of rice paper (140 x 69 cm each) which still keeps great momentum previously with acrylic paint in large paintings. The three pieces arranged side by side have a sense of divinity because of the same traditional display at an altar in church. Among these three form mutual dialogues which have symbolic meanings. Their physical presence of ink lines turning around brings about a sense of spatial changing and depth, as if fire, water, cloud, smoke, and so on are like wind passing by.
Apart from these three pieces, most of her works are 70 x 69 cm. The works ‘Waiting’, ‘With Affection’, ‘Unruffled by Sentiment’, ‘Magnificent Flight’, ‘Care For’, ‘Transit’, and ‘Thread’ created in 2011 all demonstrate multiple linear flowing and rotating brushes which sometimes appear close-knit and sometimes loose. On paintings, she creates rhythms representing full of joy and vigour of life. Having reached their maturity after making art for over 30 years, her works show escape from humans’ physical confinement. Her flowing and rotating linear brushes come from the natural and organic power of life. Such compositions perhaps remind people of their association with cutting-edge computer digital imagery. However, Lo’s works don’t have any mechanic repetitions, instead an extra human warmth and vibrancy.
In 2013, her works underwent dramatic changes. Firstly, she used colour. Besides black, she added blue and white and even created drama by using a little yellow. Secondly, she still kept linear rotating brushes and at the same time transferred from her original curved and smooth compositions to some twists and turns. Thirdly, she changed from focused, singular and symbolic shapes to continuous extensions of all sides. For example, ‘Rocks’, ‘Embracement’, ‘Nostalgia’, ‘Memory’ and ‘Blue Rhythms’ (2014), which unfold lush and penetrative qualities with delicacy and gentleness. In such way, they reveal Lo as a female artist with sensitivity and charm.
Her ink paintings with blue and white and extra yellow were apparently highly experimental. In 2014, her works returned to compositions of pure black – for example, ‘In the Mountain’, ‘The Past’ and ‘Night Walk’. Distinctively different from the style of 2011, these works with pure black no longer have smooth turns and instead have some kind of explosive sense of full compositions. There are various strokes: spots, drags of straight lines, repetitive intertwining and so on. It can be said that the artist stepped onto a more confident and unrestrained stage, straight towards another unknown world.
In 2015, Lo moved to her colour ink stage. Besides black as a major colour, she also used many others from blue and green, through vermilion, to yellow, purple and so on. This period is arguably the climax of her artistic career. She adopted an open approach along with diverse features, becoming confident and unrestrained, walking onto an incredible spontaneous stage. Examples are 2015’s ‘Encounter’, ‘Agitation’, and ‘Pulsation’ and 2016’s ‘Leisure’, ‘Faint Aroma’, ‘Mingle’, ‘Flowing Cloud’, ‘Trend’ and ‘Thoughts’. These are rich in colours and have a variety of styles, showing the artist’s states of mind and individual features.
In 2016, Lo produced works like ‘Carefree’, ‘This Shore’, ‘The Other Shore’, ‘Construction’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Yearn For’. She again returned to pure black. Her linear brushes had various transformations; and the compositions showed more freedom. It seems like every rotation is a vibrant development into the unknown. Lo’s 70 x 69 cm paintings can be also arranged together to make various large sets. They truly demonstrate delights of “gyratory multiple strings”.
Lo’s art evolution is derived from sorrow. Staying in India in 1998 shows another revival of her artistic career. Working on art in an abstract manner gave her wider vision with unrestrained style and dynamic energy. Since 2006 when a series of “Genes’ Illustrations” started, Lo’s approach of swinging strokes like gyratory multiple strings has led her to continuously explore the deepening world of true self. Although having temporarily given up oil and acrylic paint, she has focused again on ink, the medium of profound oriental humanistic features – which apparently push Lo further so that charming and upbeat features are highlighted in her paintings.
Her art has indeed created an amazing chapter for modern ink paintings in the post-war period in Taiwan.
Lo Tsen is an artist who rose to prominence in Taiwan’s painting circle in the early 1980s. Her first Taiwan solo exhibition took place in Printmakers’ Gallery, Taipei in 1981, but, before that, she had had two solo exhibitions in the Philippines. A surrealist style and semi-abstract form of the human body were used to express her feelings on life -- which have won many accolades in the art world.
Born in turbulent times, Lo came to Taiwan from Xianmen in mainland China. Perhaps as a result of her unstable childhood, in her subconscious, she built up deep feelings for people’s suffering rather than a luscious experience. Since her earliest years, she always enjoyed painting, then, as an adult, started receiving a training from a master, Wu Hao. He was then one member of the so-called “Eight Greatest Galloping Horses” in the avant-garde “Orient Art Group” movement in Taiwan. Wu showed Lo how to explore and master the concept of confronting self-consciousness. Later, Lo married a diplomat and accompanied him to the Philippines where he became the ambassador. Here, a local well-known painter Ang Kiukok took over as the supervisor of her painting.
It’s hard to associate Lo Tsen’s physical beauty and background as an ambassador’s wife with the sorrow and despair of her paintings. However, it’s obvious that painting has become the crucial therapy for her innermost inadequacy, wounds and trauma. She once said: “The soul seems like a tattered jacket, which needs to be mended with care and devotion. A work of art is like imagery of a monk’s robe of many patches.”
Her early works present a sense of vagrancy, desolation, and loneliness. Apart from human flesh, she also painted landscapes with views like low, old and broken houses, ruins, and even scenes of fire devastation. This was her prolific period when Lo had a solo exhibition almost every year. She became known as “the female painter from the Philippines”, giving a curious and profound impression to Taipei’s art scene.
The year 1998 is important time for Lo’s life and art. She accompanied her husband to India. Here, she had a refreshing experience and intellectual transition in the 17 years until her first solo exhibition. Because of her husband’s job in the diplomatic service, the family needed to move every three or four years. With a cross-ocean and cross-continent lifestyle, Lo’s way of life had to change dramatically -- continuing adjustment and absorbing and learning between oriental and occidental cultures. However, it was 1998 in New Delhi when Lo was most conflicted yet at the same time enjoyed the most inspiring experience of her travels. India has an ancient civilization, great historical relics, unique and lively customs as well as a rich and mysterious religious atmosphere – all these factors added to Lo’s strong sensitivity towards the sufferings of others.
This sensitivity came mainly from her personal feelings and experiences, often involving some kind of philosophical meditation and even anxiety. Since the mid-1990s, all the wars across Europe and Africa affected her a great deal. On TV, she saw how humans could kill each other in atrocities and scenes of destruction. During that time, Lo created works such as ‘Fate’, ‘Transformation’, ‘Questions to Heaven’, ‘All Mortals’, ‘Pathétique Chronical’, and ‘The Earth’s Illustrations’ -- which are all called a “Series of Deep Sorrow”. These seem as if mankind’s screaming and denunciations are raised out of compassion and awakening.
Living in India in 1998 helped Lo’s mind settle and offered her an exit from what she called her “deep sorrow”. Here is the place which was once a “land of suffering at utmost”, yet nurtures the most profound philosophy and religion. It also inspired Lo to look at suffering with a new attitude and approach – to bring back the original and authentic self.
Having experienced the three-step realm – “perceive as you see, believe not what you perceive, then accept what you see as they are”, Lo started realising that one’s pain and disturbance have come from a “sense of differentiation” inferring imbalance between humans and humans, between species and species. How can this sense of differentiation be removed? A crucial approach is involved with self-reflection and self-consciousness, which mean tolerance and respect towards others and rediscovery and reassurance towards the self.
In such an awareness, Lo transferred her outward attention to looking inward. Starting dismantling and diluting elements in aesthetics, she abandoned the human form instead returning to calligraphy which was so familiar but had been deserted for a long time. With flowing lines and simplified colours, Lo’s pictures were developed into a pure self-presentation. The series of works, “Genes’ Illustrations”, were first created in 2006. For 10 years after that, Lo’s works evolved in this context.
Looking at Lo’s recent works, from 2011 to 2016, we can still see her continuity of acrylic paint, but most of all her more attempt to concentrate on abstract ink paintings. According to form, there are two categories and five stages in her works -- the former includes pure ink and colour ink; and the latter goes on developing within these two categories. The five stages demonstrate various results, that is, 2011’s linear ink, 2013’s colour ink with blue and white, 2014’s return back to pure ink presentation, 2015 to 2016’s multi-colour, and 2016’s pure ink with multi-phase extensional composition.
Generally speaking, it can be complimentarily described as “swinging strokes like gyratory multiple strings”. What does “gyratory multiple strings” mean? They are Lo’s works in which linear ink brushes are composed of thin hair-like lines, just like music having melody with chords, offering a sense of overwhelming vibrancy. Why are the strokes described as “swinging”? It refers to the idea that her linear composition is a type of repeated changing of styles in various stages. It is not developed through evolution of straight lines, but through swinging forwards and backwards, along with continuous turning and expansion.
For example, the “Dialogue” from 2011 is a work composed of three pieces of rice paper (140 x 69 cm each) which still keeps great momentum previously with acrylic paint in large paintings. The three pieces arranged side by side have a sense of divinity because of the same traditional display at an altar in church. Among these three form mutual dialogues which have symbolic meanings. Their physical presence of ink lines turning around brings about a sense of spatial changing and depth, as if fire, water, cloud, smoke, and so on are like wind passing by.
Apart from these three pieces, most of her works are 70 x 69 cm. The works ‘Waiting’, ‘With Affection’, ‘Unruffled by Sentiment’, ‘Magnificent Flight’, ‘Care For’, ‘Transit’, and ‘Thread’ created in 2011 all demonstrate multiple linear flowing and rotating brushes which sometimes appear close-knit and sometimes loose. On paintings, she creates rhythms representing full of joy and vigour of life. Having reached their maturity after making art for over 30 years, her works show escape from humans’ physical confinement. Her flowing and rotating linear brushes come from the natural and organic power of life. Such compositions perhaps remind people of their association with cutting-edge computer digital imagery. However, Lo’s works don’t have any mechanic repetitions, instead an extra human warmth and vibrancy.
In 2013, her works underwent dramatic changes. Firstly, she used colour. Besides black, she added blue and white and even created drama by using a little yellow. Secondly, she still kept linear rotating brushes and at the same time transferred from her original curved and smooth compositions to some twists and turns. Thirdly, she changed from focused, singular and symbolic shapes to continuous extensions of all sides. For example, ‘Rocks’, ‘Embracement’, ‘Nostalgia’, ‘Memory’ and ‘Blue Rhythms’ (2014), which unfold lush and penetrative qualities with delicacy and gentleness. In such way, they reveal Lo as a female artist with sensitivity and charm.
Her ink paintings with blue and white and extra yellow were apparently highly experimental. In 2014, her works returned to compositions of pure black – for example, ‘In the Mountain’, ‘The Past’ and ‘Night Walk’. Distinctively different from the style of 2011, these works with pure black no longer have smooth turns and instead have some kind of explosive sense of full compositions. There are various strokes: spots, drags of straight lines, repetitive intertwining and so on. It can be said that the artist stepped onto a more confident and unrestrained stage, straight towards another unknown world.
In 2015, Lo moved to her colour ink stage. Besides black as a major colour, she also used many others from blue and green, through vermilion, to yellow, purple and so on. This period is arguably the climax of her artistic career. She adopted an open approach along with diverse features, becoming confident and unrestrained, walking onto an incredible spontaneous stage. Examples are 2015’s ‘Encounter’, ‘Agitation’, and ‘Pulsation’ and 2016’s ‘Leisure’, ‘Faint Aroma’, ‘Mingle’, ‘Flowing Cloud’, ‘Trend’ and ‘Thoughts’. These are rich in colours and have a variety of styles, showing the artist’s states of mind and individual features.
In 2016, Lo produced works like ‘Carefree’, ‘This Shore’, ‘The Other Shore’, ‘Construction’, ‘Truth’ and ‘Yearn For’. She again returned to pure black. Her linear brushes had various transformations; and the compositions showed more freedom. It seems like every rotation is a vibrant development into the unknown. Lo’s 70 x 69 cm paintings can be also arranged together to make various large sets. They truly demonstrate delights of “gyratory multiple strings”.
Lo’s art evolution is derived from sorrow. Staying in India in 1998 shows another revival of her artistic career. Working on art in an abstract manner gave her wider vision with unrestrained style and dynamic energy. Since 2006 when a series of “Genes’ Illustrations” started, Lo’s approach of swinging strokes like gyratory multiple strings has led her to continuously explore the deepening world of true self. Although having temporarily given up oil and acrylic paint, she has focused again on ink, the medium of profound oriental humanistic features – which apparently push Lo further so that charming and upbeat features are highlighted in her paintings.
Her art has indeed created an amazing chapter for modern ink paintings in the post-war period in Taiwan.
