A central figure in the modern art movement for the past forty years, Chu Ko (Taiwan, 1931-2011) is known for his image of the unwinding knot. His work is featured on the cover of Michael Sullivan’s definitive monograph Arts and Artists of Twentieth-Century China (by University of California Press, 1996), in which Sullivan describes Chu as “one of the Taiwanese artists who have given new meaning to the term wenrenhua [pintura literaria]”

While Chu utilizes traditional iconography and a traditional format and style of Chinese ink painting, his approach concertedly strives to revitalize traditional norms.