「Look at the Picture and Talk about the Painting」Kang Chunhui’s Deformation: A Life Unbound by Definition

When a peony on the canvas twists and distorts until its form is reconstructed, is this a betrayal of traditional aesthetics or the awakening of another kind of life? Where exactly lies the boundary of artistic creation? When we are defined by established rules, is breaking the boundaries destruction or rebirth?

Kang Chunhui’s “Sumeru” takes the peony as its prototype and uses “transformation” as a sharp blade to break through boundaries. In the painting, the flowers undergo a transformation from the concrete to the abstract, much like an individual breaking free from the constraints of conventional thinking and the shackles of identity in the face of real-life predicaments. Here, the edge is no longer the end of confinement but the starting point for new life.

Kang Chunhui’s creations allow us to see that art is not only a visual presentation but also a reflection on the philosophy of life. When we dare to let form betray its definition and let the “root” break free from the familiar soil, those rules that were once seen as boundaries and constraints will all transform into fulcrums that support life.