Viewing Nancy Chu Woo's paintings is like watching ever-moving colourful clouds, hiding the brilliant sun and riding the swift winds, roaming effortlessly as they please. At times the clouds burst forth like surging waves; or mistily like veiled haze; scattering one moment, coming together immediately after. Amidst the ever-changing floating vibrancy of colours, a mirage of an "underwater metropolis" emerges. In this metropolis, in place of the concrete jungle of skyscrapers, testaments to modernization, there are spacious skies, gorgeous sun, clear springs, lush forests, and boundless sunlight; an eternal balance and heavenly harmony. In the twinkling of an eye, the enchanting panorama turns into a richly ripened fruit, or  fleshy vegetables. Just as suddenly, the fruit or vegetable transforms into a sensuous nude. The figure, depicted mostly from the back, is standing or reclining, in motion or at rest. Imbued in the warm sunlight, it appears more and more ambiguous; eventually dissolving into the vibrant and infinite horizon beyond. Nancy's paintings, while exhibiting an awareness of the natural form, nevertheless are keen interpretations of her feelings. It appears that she is conveying the sense that "the universe and the self are one".
　　Nancy studied Western painting in the United States; after finishing her training she stayed on to teach, so altogether she spent fourteen years in New York. During this time, she developed her skills, establishing a solid foundation in all genres of Western art. Before she left for the United States and after her return to Hong Kong, she studied under Zhao Shao'ang and Yang Shanshen, both Great Masters of the Lingnan School. So she absorbed the essence and skills of traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting as well. With charm and grace, and in full confidence, she developed her individual characteristics: neither completely representational or traditional, nor totally abstract or expressionist, but a very special art style of her own – "suddenly, as if in a trance, but with real image". It does not matter what the subjects are: landscape, fruits and vegetables, or human figures, they bask in a bright and colourful universe, at times hidden, at times fusing with the sunshine and atmosphere, but always in complete harmony. From the atmosphere created in the painting, substance and aesthetics are reinforced by the artist's emotions, intellect, and imagination, by her life force and strength; all testify to the sincerity and integrity of her art.
　　I have known Nancy for more than twenty years. When I first met her, I was not looking at her paintings; she and I were viewing paintings at the same time. We were not looking at works by trendy modern artists, but paintings by ancient Chinese masters. It was in 1985, and we were at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, where Ho Wai-kam was the Sickman Chair Curator of Chinese Art at that time. Later, Nancy and I were among a group with Xie Zhiliu visiting American museums to see the Chinese masterpieces in their collections. Nancy's sincere humility and eagerness to learn made her appear more like a graduate student studying art history than the established artist she already was. Her warmth and friendliness were such that Master Xie mistakenly took her to be a museum guide whose job it was to take care of the visitors. Then, I met Nancy from time to time at various international symposia. Since I had not yet seen any of her paintings, I had taken it for granted that she was a traditionalist painter. It was not until the 1990s when I first saw her work; I was astonished by her innovative spirit and her ground-breaking style. It was only then that I realized what attainments she has made in transcending Chinese and Western styles and amalgamating both into a creation that is completely her own.
　　In recent years, in Hong Kong and Mainland China, every time Chinese painting is mentioned, the controversy over "brush painting" and "brushless painting" would arise. Of course the brush is extremely important, but its effectiveness depends on the hand that holds it. The aim is to "borrow the brush in order to bring all the objects in the universe into harmony with the self" to create art, as explicated by the renowned late 17th-century theorist and painter Shitao (1642—1707), in his "primordial line" or "painting of oneness". Shitao broke with traditional ways of executing brush and ink upon the surface, and saw the creation of art as conceptualization of the universe, "rising out of chaos into the creation of design." From the primordial line, through the creative force of the universe encountering chaos, a complete design emerges. This dictum of an art theorist of the past, in breaking down existing axioms that art could be created only in accordance with tradition, was not confined to his time and place. Such demolition of traditional methods in creating art is executed by artists of all eras in both China and the West.
　　In the development of Chinese painting, the artist has abided by the spirit of the brush. The spontaneous execution with brush and ink is by no means exhausted; painters living and working today are still finding new ways in their creative expressions using brush and ink. There was, however, another method of ink painting, practised by the Tang painter Zhang Cao (late 8th century) and later by Mi Fu (1052—1107) of the Song dynasty. This was the ink and colour wash technique, the spontaneous splattering of ink and colour, quite different from the mainstream outline method with a brush. This technique has been overshadowed by the outline method for a very long time, and has been waiting to be resurrected. Nancy's work appears to be along the line of this non-mainstream method of splattering colour and ink onto the paint surface; unconfined by lines, with special attention to the unity of water, ink, and the splattering of colours on very wet paper; in addition to utilizing the Western method of controlled application of natural colours by hand. In this combination of Chinese and Western techniques, Nancy has created a fusion of ink and colours, a movement of atmosphere and sunlight, putting her energies into realizing what the modern artist and scholar, Ho Wai-kam, has termed "emerging harmony". It can be said that Nancy, in her search for an expression to?transcend both Chinese and Western traditional methodology while "creating a technique where there is none", and "adapting a way to create art that is unique". I am gratified to see that, in her paintings, Nancy's effort has been rewarded with a powerful articulation of her ideas. I am expecting that Nancy will continue to progress in her endeavour to combine "nature and human", "universe and the self", and further advance her art into an even more perfect arena of pure beauty.
　　Xue Yongnian
　　Beijing, April 2004