Wu Guanzhong

Just Before his death, at the age of 90 in 2010, Wu Guanzhong donated five last paintings to the Hong Kong museum of Art. These five, along with 15 works were recently shown in a sublime exhibition at museum. They opitimsie the constant struggle to leave figuration in favour of pure abstraction, but more tellingly, they opitimise his struggle with life itself.
Simply not recognised by the Chinese authorities for vast swathes of his life, Guanzhongs' work reveals an intense personal trauma. For me it points to a manic depressive; in absolute bliss at one moment, like daydreaming in the midday sun, to crawling around on the wet forest floor the next.
There are no secrets here, Guanzhongs' integrity means, (regardless of their occasional confused actualisation), the images deliver the most clear, honest emotions.
Guanzhong could never 'let go of the kite' and succumb to pure abstract painting, but there is no doubt he is was his most interesting when he tried.
"When the thick dark ink splashes onto the plain paper, it explodes and dazzles. In the same way that pearls jingle when they are dropped into a jade dish, ink produces a formal beauty that is random when it hits the rice paper. Randomness is not something to depend on, however. The directions are instead determined by emotions to reflect the force latent in the splashed marks. In physics, fission is caused by a change in force. In humans, a swing or a dramatic swing in emotions is detectable at the tip of a Chinese brush. I have no words for fission, and one that is spontaneous, to describe my mindset in different moods".