Since the beginning of time, artists have wanted us to get lost in
their world. Such is the case with The Universe of Liu
Kuo-Sung, a virtual reality experience featuring the works of Chinese
master painter Liu Kuo-Sung at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan. The exhibit
is on display from December 26, 2019 to May 26, 2020.
The 87-year-old Liu is universally celebrated as the father of
modern Chinese brush strokes and is widely regarded as one of the earliest
advocates of modernist Chinese painting. For decades, his delicate art has long
transported people to the infinite mountains of Sichuan or the dazzling lakes
of Jiuzhaigou in China.
Through The Universe of Liu Kuo-Sung, the incorporation of virtual reality brings his art to life in a
new form. Through the lens of virtual reality, museumgoers receive a sensory
experience of visually rich ink brushstrokes in infinite detail. Through an
immersive three-part exhibition, viewers are invited to "See (觀)," "Play (戲)," and "Enter (入) " his universe, where colorful blots of ink pour down the
canvas and playfully leaps across the screen. Meanwhile, they can walk around
gleaming reflections from China’s vast waterways and interact as if they were
there.
His impressionist-style art is far from traditional, but rather,
combines both western and eastern aesthetics. In collaboration with co-creator
Hsin-Chien Huang, the
virtual reality journey is a testament to the power of technology, which is all
about breaking through the limitations of reality to fuse the old with the new,
or the mundane with the impossible, taking us all to new heights. After all,
technology is not just another tool in an artists’ burgeoning workbox. It’s a
world without rules, without physics, and without limits.
