Artwork Appreciation
Have you ever walked into the forest on a mid-summer night?
When the artist Kuo Cheng-Fang visited the sky trail at Mt. Bagua in the evening, the trail was decorated with colorful lights. But once he avoided the interfering lights and looked into the depths of the woods, he saw that under the moonlight and lamplight, the trees exuded a dark, mysterious atmosphere. It was quite different from seeing the trees during the day. The seemingly sleeping trees have an unknown aspect; they whisper quietly and stretch to their fullest, and the night god seems to breathe into the forest and awaken the trees’ souls. Kuo seems to have been inspired by it—after all, photography is the art of light and shadow. For more than a hundred nights, he went to the same forest alone, pointing artificial lights at the trees, and meticulously sculpting their expressions in light and shadow. Under these lights, every tree became a protagonist, every breath a scene. He recorded their lives each night, and Breath of Night (Green) becomes like a lyrical, deep dream.