Splashed-color Landscape 1965

Chang Dai-chien made this splashed-color landscape with ink and colour on paper. Look closely at the mountains, really take them in – see how they emerge, not from careful outlines, but from fields of layered colour? The paint here is both thin and washy, and thick and textured, all at the same time. The blues and greens are like sudden bursts, splatters, almost violent against the smoky greys and blacks. But even with all this wildness, there’s a sense of calm, a feeling of a world in balance, like a held breath. Consider the area of pure blue. It seems to pool on the surface like a vivid, reflective lake, drawing the eye and acting as an anchor amidst the swirling forms. This idea of using colour as form reminds me of Helen Frankenthaler, though her take was a bit more chill. With Chang, it feels like a dance between control and chaos, a reminder that art, like life, is all about finding beauty in the unpredictable.