Wu painted this concentrated patch of wildflowers during the Cultural Revolution, when his teaching and writing had been halted and large-scale artistic work was politically dangerous. The board is small enough for field use. Yellow and white blossoms flicker through dark green strokes, turning close observation into an urgent, almost all-over surface.
Nothing in the image declares the political conditions around its making, but scale and method carry that history. Wu worked outdoors with portable materials after years of prohibition and labor. The field is both a real piece of terrain and a rehearsal for the dots, crossings, and restless intervals that would later animate his ink paintings.
