Artist: Chuang Che

Spanning more than five decades, Rediscovered Works brings together a remarkable group of paintings by Chuang Che created between 1967 and 2020. At the center of the exhibition is a rare presentation of nine monumental works on paper from 1993, unveiled publicly for the first time after more than three decades in the artist’s studio. The exhibition is further complemented by a carefully selected group of paintings on canvas drawn directly from the artist’s studio. Findlay Galleries is proud to present this exceptional body of work by an artist the gallery has had the honor of representing since 2006.

Born in Peiping (now Beijing) in 1934, Chuang Che established an international reputation for his innovative synthesis of Eastern and Western painting traditions. The son of the distinguished scholar and calligrapher Chuang Yen, director of the Palace Museum in Peking, he was immersed in classical Chinese painting and calligraphy from an early age. After completing his studies at National Taiwan Normal University, he received a J.D. Rockefeller III Fund travel grant in 1966 to study in the United States and travel in Europe. In 1973 he relocated permanently to the United States, settling first in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and later in Yonkers, New York.

Chuang Che’s paintings unite elegant calligraphic line with the bold gestural language of Abstract Expressionism. His palette—burnt umber, emerald green, lavender, and turquoise animated by sweeping passages of black—evokes the rhythms and energies of the natural world. As the artist has written:

“Through daily contact and experience, the brush strokes and script variations in calligraphy have become part of my creative soul. What I seek is to rediscover the original nature of calligraphy—to use the strokes of running cursive to depict mountains and rivers.”

The nine monumental works on paper presented here embody this vision with particular force. Created in 1993 and set aside shortly after their completion, they remained unseen until their recent rediscovery at the artist’s home. Their surfaces remain remarkably vibrant: pigment surges, pools, and disperses across the paper as dense formations of black and charcoal are balanced by luminous passages of turquoise, mineral green, and flashes of yellow.

Across these compositions, gesture becomes structure. Calligraphic arcs sweep across the surface or dissolve into atmospheric washes, while saturated passages yield to translucency, allowing the ground to breathe. Monumental in scale and presence, the works capture the speed, pressure, and movement of the hand, preserving a vivid sense of energy held in suspension—at once controlled and spontaneous.

Chuang Che’s work is represented in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Shanghai Art Museum, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the Musée Cernuschi in Paris, and the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas.