郭忠烈   Guo, Zhong-Lie   1909~

Zhong-Lie Guo, courtesy name Lie-Ong, father of the watercolor painter Bo-Shiu Guo, was born in Taipei, Taiwan. In retrospect, the artist has been consumed by passion for arts and demonstrated extraordinary talent since his tender years. He was enrolled in the Department of Fine Arts, Tokyo Bunka Gakuin at the age of 22, and took up postgraduate study for another two years right after graduation. His creative practice began with sketch and oil painting, and then evolved into Chinese painting. Being intensely interested in the freehand styles of Chang-Shuo Wu and Bai-Shi Qi, the artist has treated them as the basis for his sketches among which animals and human figures are his specialized genres. Guo creates mainly for conveying his emotions. He may produce five to six paintings a day when the fit is on him, insofar as to skip his sleep and meals because he is completely wrapped up in his work and finds pure delight in it. He is particularly proficient in ink painting, and depicting fowls is his tour-de-force, that is, he is able to represent their mesmerizing miens with simply a few brushstrokes. He used to be a member of the Chinese Arts Association, the Chinese Painting Association, the Liu-Xiu Painting Society, and Japan Fine Arts Association. In addition to his solo exhibitions, Guo not only staged several joint exhibitions with his son, but also participated in dozens of group exhibitions. All these exhibitions were lavishly and highly praised.