CHINESE
BRUSH
PAINTING

Chinese brush painting, or guohua, is an ancient art form that uses traditional bamboo brushes with black ink or colored pigments on absorbent rice paper or silk. Rather than focusing on photorealism, it captures the spirit, movement, and feeling of a subject through confident brushwork, expressive composition, and thoughtful use of empty space.

Joanne Chen Sullivan works in both major styles of Chinese brush painting: gongbi, a meticulous and highly detailed style, and xieyi, a freer, more spontaneous style often called ink-and-wash painting. In her work, Joanne pays close attention to the balance between painted and unpainted space, using white space to suggest mist, sky, water, or atmosphere. Her paintings often reflect the deep connection between brush painting and calligraphy, where each stroke is intentional and cannot be corrected once placed on the paper.