For Taiwanese watercolorist Chien Chung-Wei, the goal of a painting career was never to develop a recognizable style. It was something both simpler and far more demanding: to keep searching for what watercolor, at its purest, is actually capable of. “I am not so much developing a style,” he reflects, “but rather constantly exploring and seeking the essence of painting — and the ways to express that essence more beautifully, more loftily, with more meaning and value. There’s no need to seek out my own style, because I am the style.”
“Dancing Like Butterflies” (watercolor, 10.63 x 14.57 in.) by Chien Chung-Wei
That search has taken him somewhere unexpected. A decade ago, Chien’s work was known for its technical virtuosity — exquisite strokes, special effects, a level of polish that drew admiration from watercolorists around the world. Today, he has set nearly all of it aside. “Compared with ten-plus years ago, now I don’t use exquisite strokes, and I give up all the special techniques,” he says. “I choose subjects from daily life, set up a clean composition, and try to get back to the original state of simple watercolor.” Looking back, he considers those years of technical experimentation a kind of detour — necessary, perhaps, but not the destination. “Only now,” he says, “am I really getting to know what transparent watercolor painting is.”
“Central Park” (watercolor, 10.63 × 14.57 in.) by Chien Chung-Wei
That clarity hasn’t made the process easier. If anything, it’s made the standard he holds himself to higher. “Every time I’m in the middle of working on a painting, I feel so convinced that I am a rare genius,” he admits with disarming honesty. “However, when I finish the work, that defiant and agitated confidence is completely lost — because of the flaws that have gradually accumulated during the process.” It is, he says, a particular kind of pain: aiming higher than what the hand can deliver. But it’s also the engine of everything that follows. “This is the kind of pain that keeps me constantly improving myself,” he says, “and striving to create masterpieces of immortal value.”
“Spring Snow” (watercolor, 14.57 x 10.63 in.) by Chien Chung-Wei
What remains, underneath the philosophy and the self-criticism, is something almost startlingly direct. “I just want to speak the truth and paint with sincerity,” he says. “That’s it.” For an artist whose paintings — luminous studies of cityscapes from Paris to Moscow, rendered with a transparency and restraint that belies decades of hard-won simplification — have captivated watercolorists internationally, that statement of purpose is its own kind of manifesto.
Chien Chung-Wei
“Thank God for making me meet such an amazing painting medium like watercolor,” Chien says. “I will definitely make every effort to create immortal masterpieces until I die. This journey of painting has just begun.”
