Robert Chen. A Retrospective

Like all major artists, Chen Cheng-hsiung has been the subject of a good deal of writing. Critics and historians have traced his career, his development into a thoroughly mature Abstract painter, and the stages by which he has moved on from one kind of Abstraction to another, showing that he has never been content to stay where he was, but has constantly moved forward to explore new ground.

When Henry Moore was asked what was the meaning of his work, he replied, “I am a doer and a maker. I leave the interpretation of my work to others”. But “the others” (like me) are outsiders. How can we possibly know what goes on in the mind of the artist? For the Abstract Expressionist above all, however much he may think he has thought it out beforehand, the picture is created in the process of painting it, driven by instinct and feeling. The artist is performing, like the pianist, who does not stop to think of the next notes he will play. Jackson Pollock said of his own art: “When I am in my painting, I am not aware of what I am doping…I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image… etc., because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.”.

I would not suggest that there is no thought behind Chen Cheng-hsiung’s painting. His writings and cogent sayings show that there clearly is. But when he starts to paint, what happens then, is governed by instinct and feeling, evoking that vital energy that the Chinese call qi. It is in that process that the mysterious gift of the artist lies, and it is that to which we respond when we take the work in. It cannot be explained. It can only be wondered at.

Robert Chen
A Retrospective