Galerie du Monde is delighted to present the exhibition The Fifth Moon, which has been painstakingly organized following the retrospectives of Liu Kuo-Sung in 2014 and Fong Chung-Ray at the gallery in 2015. The exhibition showcases 25 of the finest artworks created by the members of the Fifth Moon Group, including works produced by Liu Kuo-Sung, Fong Chung-Ray, Chen Ting-Shih, Hu Chi-Chung and Ku Fu-Sheng during the 1960s and 1970s. The works of Chen Ting-Shih, Hu Chi-Chung and Ku Fu-Sheng will be premiered in Hong Kong at this exhibition.

As a crucial art group in the history of Chinese contemporary and modern art, the Fifth Moon Group was founded in 1956 and its first exhibition was organized in Zhong Shan Hall, Taipei, in 1957. Since this initial event, the group exhibited work in May every year. The Fifth Moon Group was synonymous with boldness and innovation as well as upholding liberty through subject matter, concept and its presentation of art. Consequently the group is considered a pioneer of Taiwan’s contemporary art groups and is profoundly influential to the development of art in Taiwan and Greater China. This exhibition reviews and retraces the work of the Fifth Moon Group during the Taiwanese modern art movement which took place in the 1960s and 1970s, examining the innovation initiated by its active members during this period. This will further consider the importance of the Fifth Moon Group to the initiation and development of Taiwanese contemporary art.

Liu Kuo-Sung (1932－) As one of the founders of the Fifth Moon Group and a leading artist in Taiwan, Liu Kuo-Sung is regarded as ‘the father of modern ink painting’. He devoted his life to the promotion and inheritance of modern ink painting, which today makes him one of the most influential figures in the art world. His epochal art theory and innovation in art and creativity has accelerated the development of Chinese painting. His artworks feature in the collections of museums and institutions worldwide.

Fong Chung-Ray (1933－) A front-runner in the development of Taiwanese modern art and born into a well-educated family, Fong Chung-Ray is considered a key member of Fifth Moon. He once stated that ‘Fifth Moon artists have borrowed the fire from abstractionism to light the lamp of modern Chinese Painting…..to further pioneer the spirit of non-realism and to revive the spirit of non-reality and fantasy, which was the basis of much traditional Chinese art.’ His brush hair is specially made with palm hair, which leads to a convergence of Abstract Expressionism and traditional Eastern art style. Instead of the realistic portrayal of objects, his drawings present an exploration of life and the universe. Since the late 1980s, Fong has combined Chinese Calligraphy with abstract painting, converting Chinese characters into art through collage.

Hu Chi-Chung (1927－2012) Another key member of the Fifth Moon Group, Hu’s artworks acquired recognition early in 1959 and have been exhibited at the Musée d’ Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He also participated in the So Paulo Art Biennial for many years. Having emigrated to the United States in 1971, Hu Chi-Chung created a unique painting practice by adding sand into pigment, creating a three-dimensional impression on the paper, and thus combining Western art theory with Chinese aesthetics. Spanning from his early abstract paintings richly imbued with an oriental aesthetic, to poetic portraits and landscape paintings created at a later stage, Hu Chi-Chung established his reputation for his signature docility in lines and sumptuous hues that provoke emotions and sentiment in the viewer.

Chen Ting-Shih (1913 -2002) With works spanning from lithographs and ink to sculpture and calligraphy, Chen was a member of the Fifth Moon Group who is also included as one of the Asian artists in Ferrier’s Art of the 20th Century, and who was an instrumental figure in the development of Taiwanese modern art. One of the pioneers of late Chinese lithography, Chen, although deaf at a young age, invented his signature technique using bagasse plates, the natural cracking of which becomes the artist’s unique artistic characteristic. Chen amalgamates Western artistic concepts with Eastern aesthetic, creating a visual language that is at once both abstract and concrete, as well as traditional and modern.

Ku Fu-Sheng (1935－) Ku Fu-Sheng has always been faithful to himself as a key member of the Fifth Moon Group, choosing to focus on the exploration of the meaning of life. Combining various media with an unrestrained and vigorous style of creativity, the human bodies in his drawings are mostly deformed, twisted and extended. The composition of each picture is tense and full of cadence. His artworks are dramatic with strong emotional presentation, evoking boredom, desire, dreams and joy to humanity.

‘The artworks presented in the exhibition are exceptionally rare and valuable. We are extremely honoured to be able to include the key artworks of two late members from the Fifth Moon Group in the exhibition.’ ── Fred Scholle, Founder