Beautiful brushwork
“My life has been full of rich variety.” It was only after having roamed the world of applied arts for half a century that Ko came to the realization that everything he did was done in order to return to a childhood dream. The applied arts are a very broad field, but in his work across so many different media one thing never changed, and that was his effort to manifest his deep concern and love for this land where he was born and raised.
With his habitually bloodshot eyes close up to the paper, Ko holds his breath as he focuses on his work. Using a brush as fine as hair, he paints stroke after stroke of watercolor with his forearm suspended steadily in the air. In his meticulous works he reproduces every tiny detail of living things, creating vivid and lifelike scenes of nature.
Chen Shih-lun, head of the College of Innovation and Design at Chihlee University of Technology, praises Ko for the innovations he has brought to the world of Chinese nature painting. Lo Cheng-hsien, a famous master of traditional Chinese painting and formerly head of the Fine Art College at National Taiwan University of Arts, has expressed his admiration for Ko’s perfect matching of Western and Chinese painting, deftly integrating essential elements of traditional Chinese painting into Western watercolors in a way that feels refreshing and unique.
“The camera is another brush for me.” Capturing all living things from nature on film, he gathers these into his inspiration database, constructing a spiritual haven. “Although they are realistic, in fact the pictures are all carefully composed.” Only by integrating aesthetics and creative concepts into the utopian world the painter creates in his mind can one achieve meaning and depth.
“The task that Fate has given me is to continually learn and continually create.” From paintings of flowers, birds, and insects in the series “Taiwan—Nature of the Twelve Months” to rural cats and dogs painted in the style of the famous scroll painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, Ko uses beautiful brushwork to capture the beauty and vitality of each and every creature in life. Tai-Hwa Pottery reprinted his bird and flower series on porcelain cups, transforming these sublime works into three-dimensional artifacts. And the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation turned his paintings, with their richly Taiwanese flavor, into images for the packaging of a new whiskey product. “The things I have been able to achieve in this life have flabbergasted my whole family.” For Ko Hung-tu, who says that life begins at 70, new artistic buds are still opening.
Osmanthus flowers attract butterflies. Painted using a Western technique, with added elements of Chinese painting such as an inscription and seal, this watercolor entitled Butterflies Come to Fragrant Flowers takes on an alternative style mixing East and West.
Spreading Fragrance of Osmanthus
With its transcendent beauty, this red lotus flower amidst the intense green of the plant’s leaves cuts a gorgeous figure as it sways in the wind. The photo shows a watercolor painting entitled Standing Out from the Crowd.
An avid nature lover, Ko draws boundless inspiration from landscapes, flowers, and birds. (photo by Jimmy Lin)
Dogs and cats, which most people think of as natural enemies, live in joyful harmony in the paintings of Ko Hung-tu, such as this watercolor entitled Peace.