Chao Er Tai

1990

泛黃

POST WINGS

The composition is centered around a segment of a broken branch, outlined with extremely restrained ink lines, leaving much of the space blank. The newly sprouted red leaves appear as small, concentrated dots of color, serving not as decoration or a symbolic projection of emotion, but as a direct indication of the state of life—growth is still occurring amidst aging and simplification.

In the distance, two small boats are faintly visible on the water's surface, rendered with just a few strokes, nearly merging with the space around them. The boats no longer carry a narrative function but merely serve as hints of scale and distance, maintaining the entire piece in the realm of "the present moment" rather than "scenic storytelling."

This work exhibits significant characteristics of Zhao Er-dai's late period: the absence of a complete structure governing the composition, no longer pursuing a comprehensive portrayal of nature, but rather focusing the gaze on a fragment, a segment of the branch, a moment of change. Consequently, the brushwork becomes more refined yet becomes closer to existence itself.

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