Chih-Hung KUO

Chih-Hung KUO (b. 1982) was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He graduated from National Taipei University of the Arts and Munich Art Academy, and currently resides in Taipei.

KUO has spent a total of eight years living in Germany. His studies and experiences in Germany have shifted his painting focus from portraiture to depictions of landscapes, particularly mountains. Utilizing Western painting techniques, he presents the elegance of Taiwanese mountains in an abstract style. After years of refinement and continuous creation, he brings a fresh perspective to the theme of "mountains." By removing specific references to the mountains and constructing landscape fragments with just a few brushstrokes, he extracts coded structures from everyday and aesthetic collective visual memories. Through painting techniques involving flat washes, outlines, sweeps, and quick brushstrokes, KUO showcases the abstract yet authentic forms of mountains. He creates mountain peaks, slopes, valleys, floating clouds, white snow, water ponds, reflections, old trees, and withered leaves within the mountain forms. Through depicting spiritualized landscapes, he contemplates how to achieve a deferred meaning of mountains without resorting to direct representation, attempting to transcend the mere image of the mountains and understand their essence. To KUO, "mountains" serve as unique intermediaries. He employs concepts from linguistic referencing, distinguishable and indistinguishable symbols, and expands the vocabulary and style generated between mountains, ultimately pointing to the ever-evolving relationship between the artist and the essence of painting.

KUO has exhibited on various international stages, including Het Noordbrabants Museum, Netherlands (2018), Spinnerei, Leipzig, Germany (2018), Olympia Grand Hall, London, UK (2016), AdbK München, Munich, Germany (2013), and Mancy's Tokyo Art Nights, Tokyo, Japan (2012). His works have also been collected by HSBC Bank, Taiwan (2022), E.SUN Bank, Taiwan (2023), and SIGG, Switzerland (2016).