Light Snow

This painting reveals the influence of Taoism on Liu Kuo-sung’s art, particularly the philosophy that Yin and Yang is the source of all things. Yin and Yang are not to be understood as two opposing forces, but rather as two parts of the same whole, working in unison, creating all life in the universe.

Traditional Chinese painting predominately relies on black lines, and is unable to produce white lines with conventional methods. As a response, Liu Kuo-sung invented the “Ripping the Tendons and Peeling the Skin” technique, in which he rips out the thick fibers on ink-stained rice paper, revealing the original whiteness of the paper underneath. By producing negative white lines from a solid black mass, Liu cleverly creates a visual metaphor of the interaction between Yin and Yang. 

The Yin and Yang theme, represented by the juxtaposition of black versus white, is continued by the setting of the calligraphic brushstrokes against the negative space of the rice paper. The end result is a coherent and energetic composition.