Created in 2021, "Border" is a series of composite media creations, based mainly on the use of pastels. Portraits outlined with thick black borders are typical in the creations of this artist, and these can be seen in many of these works. WU Hsichi believes that the human body is a kind of cage. By removing the hair, gender characteristics, and other physical features, and leaving only a pure portrait, the compositions seem to be self-portraits of the artist himself. In their composition, the portraits, feature huge eyes and smiles that lament the secular world, gazing down on this world from different angles.

Plato once said, “Abstract paintings are an alternative pathway to spiritual reality.” He believed that patterns without figurative images (such as circles, squares, and triangles,) present an absolute and irreversible beauty. Therefore, the lines and colors in a painting can themselves be the object of appreciation for viewers. Artists do not need to accurately reproduce natural shapes or scenes in their compositions. Abstract art does not have a specific appearance, shape, or aesthetic symbol, and the degree of abstraction varies in the works themselves. From the enormous artistic canon of the twentieth century, abstract art can be categorized into several basic types: linear, color-related, geometric, emotional and intuitive, brushstroke, and minimalist.

WU Hsichi’s Border series displays a series of images which are imbued with a metaphysical spirituality that is manifested through abstract forms. The works both illustrate the influence of Western art trends, and depict an oriental “dry landscape” images and the concept of Zen. They signify the ups and downs, and the light at the end of the tunnel of Hsichi’s life journey, while blooming with spiritual joyfulness. Indeed, these works portray a spiritual “border” which has no boundaries.


Online Viewing Room: https://www.artsy.net/viewing-room/powen-gallery-wu-hsichi-border-part-ii