Eastern Gouache

1993

Length:72.7 x Width:90.5 x Height:1.9 (cm)

Cheng Ying-Lin (b. 1963, Qingshui, Taichung) holds a graduate degree in Fine Arts from Soochow University. A student of gouache painter Hsieh Feng-Sheng (1938-2008), Cheng served as an elementary school teacher and principal. His works have been awarded at the Taiyang Fine Arts Exhibition, the Central Taiwan Art Exhibition, the Provincial Exhibition, and the Dadun Fine Arts Exhibition. In 1996, he was granted permanent exemption from jury review by the Provincial Exhibition and is a member of the Taiyang Fine Arts Association.
This work portrays a lone figure walking up the stairs of a temple pavilion at dusk, enveloped in the dim light of the moon. The only companion is the soft yellow glow shining from within the building. Though the figure's face is hidden, their silhouette exudes a profound sense of solitude. The painting’s composition is tightly constructed: the ornate temple structure fills nearly three-quarters of the canvas and serves as the visual anchor, while the lush greenery in the foreground stabilizes the scene and frames the moon in the upper left.
Rendered in muted blues, greens, and browns, the eaves, brackets, and beams are painted with layered mineral pigments to suggest the haze of nightfall. The outlines of the trees, stairs, and solitary figure are traced with faint white lines, as if gently illuminated by moonlight. In this quiet nightscape, the moon and the solitary light become twin sources of comfort, quietly guiding the lone traveler onward.

Accession number:20170300123