The Source Within
External teachers cultivate, internal gain the source
Chan-Ao Chao (趙占鰲, 1932-2019) was a hermit and warrior in the history of post-war modern art in Taiwan, a painter who practiced both oil painting and ink painting.
Born in Laiyang, Shandong, he experienced war and displacement in his early years. After coming to Taiwan with the military, he completed his education in the military camp and graduated from the Department of Fine Arts at the Political Warfare School (now the National Defense University Political Warfare College). He studied oil painting under Lin Ke-Gong and won awards and was selected for international exhibitions in his youth. From middle age, he became passionate about exploring and creating modern ink painting. After retiring from teaching, he held fifteen solo exhibitions and was invited to participate in important exhibitions both domestically and internationally. His works are collected by institutions such as the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.
Chan-Ao Chao embodies the creative spirit and spiritual principles of "external teachers cultivate, internal gain the source." He stated: "My attitude is present; each painting has a prototype and will never be repeated." In his oil painting creations, he uses bold, heavy color blocks and rhythmic, calligraphic lines as the flesh and bones, daringly practicing the compositional principles of "finding the subtle in danger and breaking the light in darkness," integrating the Eastern spirit of freehand brushwork with a strong sense of individual life perception into Western painting media, creating an abstract lyrical style that is vast like a plateau yet filled with a resilient breath of life and a sense of compassion.
In his modern ink practice, Chan-Ao Chao employs dynamic cursive lines and an automatic technique that blends ink colors, along with a playful and unconventional attitude, to create vibrant life landscapes. Whether it is the sturdy old trees, graceful lotus rhythms, vast snowfields, rushing waterfalls, or highly abstract cosmic imagery, or indistinct sketches, all grow and transform freely under his brush. Especially in the explosive creativity of his last year of life, he transcended the constraints of illness and the physical body, reaching a grand and harmonious spiritual realm.
Creative Concept / Artist Statement
Creative Concept / Artist Statement
"External teachers cultivate, internal gain the source" refers to the artist's understanding and realization of nature, a process of transforming one's emotions, thoughts, ideals, and spirit into artistic language. When an artist can fully experience this process in their creation, the surface of their work may be ugly and incomplete, but its connotation is compassionate, passionate, and hopeless. The style that is implied and revealed must be original, and their wish is to alert the world to cherish and protect nature...
After decades of immersing in both Chinese and Western painting, I deeply feel the essence of "cultivation and source" in traditional aesthetics as one and the same. Whether in Chinese or Western painting, one does not fall into traditional rules; the use of brush and ink takes a different path, and the choice of materials and layout also seeks the subtle in danger and breaks the light in darkness...
"My attitude is present; each painting has a prototype and will never be repeated."
INKRESONANCE
CHROMATIC POETRY
