Contemporary art means an infinite possibility, which includes a broader vision and a more humanist spirit and inner exploration, and it is undoubtedly the most vibrant and powerful existence of the times. "Civilization" is not formed in isolation, but expands and changes its own situation through continuous collision and repeated exchanges, and emphasizes the changes of different societies and cultures, and the new historical narrative pays more attention to the interpenetration of civilizations. It is an inside-out exploration, an outside-in perspective, and a multiple intertwining and interaction between the inside and the outside. The so-called "global vision" emphasizes the relationship between different cultures and perspectives, and the participation, interaction and integration of circulation and the process of circulation.
In this season's Spring Auction, the 20th Century & Contemporary Art Department adheres to the original intention of in-depth exploration of the development of Chinese contemporary art, and also looks overseas. It presents many magnificent masterpieces from China and the West, including minimalist and abstract masterpieces by overseas Chinese artists such as Lin Shouyu and Diao Deqian, as well as classics of Chinese contemporary art masters such as Yuan Yunsheng and Shang Yang, as well as typical representative works of contemporary Chinese stalwarts such as Liu Wei, Zhou Chunya, Zhang Enli, Zeng Fanzhi, etc., as well as large-scale sculptures from the Antony Gormley Collection. Therefore, we strive to present the development and overall outlook of contemporary art from various angles and from different perspectives, and through the different creative themes and creative languages of different artists, we will show their thinking paths of seeking conceptual breakthroughs from tradition and history, and write the innovation and inheritance of the global "great contemporary".
Lot 287
Lin Shouyu (1933-2011), painting relief with aluminum plate, 1960, aluminum, oil on canvas, 63×76 cm.
When we trace the diverse development of the art scene in the twentieth century, "minimalism", which emerged from the 1960s, has undoubtedly become a strong artistic current. It subverts the established boundaries of traditional art forms, emphasizing pure and intuitive artistic perception at its core, shifting the focus to aesthetic depth, structural sophistication, and material texture. To this day, Minimalism continues to be revolutionary and groundbreaking, contributing valuable insights to the field of art.
Completed in 1960, Lin Shouyu's painting relief on aluminium panels was completed in 1960 and was divided into four parts of different sizes by simplifying the complex and cutting it in a common rectangular shape. Among them, the circle on the lower left uses the representative product of the industrial era - aluminum plate with metallic luster, forming a bulge that is difficult to detect from a frontal view, aluminum plate was a symbol of advanced productivity at the time, and the product of continuous progress in science and technology, the surface of the material is silvery white and shiny when smooth, and dark gray when rough. Lin Shouyu uses this material to explore the influence of the medium on painting, and makes the painting break through the two-dimensional space, embossing a halo like a full moon. In line with this, the lower part of the lower right is only outlined by lines, expressing the contrast between the virtual and the real, and the symbiosis of yin and yang. The long black straight line and the slightly shorter yellow straight line on the right connect the visual rhythm of the whole work, which has become a unique mark in his artistic creation.
Lot 289
Diao Deqian (b.1943) Salon 22010 Acrylic silkscreen print on canvas 225×337 cm. Published David Diao, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art and Delmonico Books, Prestel, Hong Kong, 2018, p. 258, September 19 – November 15, 2015, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing
Diao Deqian's artistic career has surpassed that of Yijiazi, from abstraction to expression to concept, each stage has its own characteristics, but the reflection on his relationship with the environment, personal identity politics, and even the identification of mainstream aesthetic tastes have always run through his creations, becoming extremely distinctive creative hallmarks. Salon 2 is a masterpiece of Diao Deqian's aesthetics and concepts, which clearly presents the personal narrative of a generation of Chinese artists in the gap between culture and identity, with a highly rational and dialectical temperament.
Since 2003, out of his passion for modernist architecture, Diao Deqian has created a series of works about glass houses. This passion continued in 2010 and led to the birth of Salon 2. In this large-scale work, two similar prints can be seen on the left and right, displayed against a turquoise background. On the right, the image is one of the most well-known in the history of American architecture and art, while on the left, Diao Deqian, a young Chinese artist from Chengdu who came to New York to seek a career in the United States, sits in a glass house like his host. In this way, Diao not only positions himself in the position of this history that he loves, but also places himself in the structure that produced this history, in order to claim that he is both an "insider" and an "other". It seems that through this juxtaposition, the huge difference between the two can be bridged, or, on the contrary, the infinite struggle for the discourse of contemporary art is more and more prominent.
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Lot 290
Yuan Yunsheng (b.1937) Stonehenge (diptych) 2018 Oil on canvas 240×560 cm. Publication of Yuan Yunsheng's History, Shanghai Culture Publishing House, Shanghai, 2022, pp. 324-325 Back to Nantong: Yuan Yunsheng Art Exhibition, Phoenix Fine Arts Publishing House, Nanjing, 2023, pp. 364-365 Exhibition "Yuan Yunsheng's History", July 5 – October 23, 2022, Long Museum, Shanghai Back to Nantong - Yuan Yunsheng Art Exhibition", January 17, 2023 – May 7, 2023, Nantong Art Museum, Nantong, Jiangsu
In different historical periods, Yuan Yunsheng has been the focus of the Chinese art world, and his works full of heroism have added a strong touch to the history of contemporary Chinese art. After 2000, Yuan Yunsheng began to further explore the common civilization of mankind in his works, trying to create an art form with a grander perspective and a more universal nature, integrating all the characteristics of plastic arts. Stonehenge, created in 2018, is a typical example, with a total length of nearly six meters, Yuan Yunsheng uses fusion and even original freedom of expression to practice the generous, broad and glorious object he has been looking for.
Stonehenge's scenery is based on the stone forests of Yunnan, and after 40 years of the artist's first trip to Yunnan, Yuan Yunsheng once again focused his brush on the beautiful frontier scenery. Yunnan Stone Forest is a karst landform, which is very different from the British "Stone Forest" landscape, and Yuan Yunsheng's name "Stonehenge" has the meaning of dialogue between the natural miracles of different civilizations that are thousands of miles away. The painter uses the "image of the local" to transcend time and space for thousands of years, and incarnates it as a symbol of the common spirit and morality of mankind. In terms of expression, he hopes to combine the characteristics of Western modernist painting, such as structuralism and the purest art forms of Jean Dubuffet's native art, with a sporty expressive language with Chinese landscapes. "Stonehenge" is very abstract, and the rhythm and rhythm of the lines in the work are not only a reaffirmation of the vitality of the line, but also an expression of the meaning of the form, which is free and accessible.
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Lot 292
Shang Yang (b.1942) Dong Qichang Project—4 (diptych) 2007 Mixed media on canvas 148×233 cm.×2 Published Shang Yang: The Sigh of the Great Landscape, Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, Chengdu, 2007, pp. 264-265 Collection of Teachers' Works of the Academy of Fine Arts of Capital Normal University—Volume 3, Culture and Art Publishing House, Beijing, 2009, pp. 16-17 Research on Imagery Oil Painting, Culture and Art Publishing House, Beijing, 2010, Painting Style, Volume 20 , Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, Chengdu, 2011 Shang Yang, Anhui Fine Arts Publishing House, Hefei, 2012 Shang Yang: Dong Qichang Project, Tian'an Time, Beijing, 2009, pp. 36-37, "Danshan and Clear Water: Chinese and German Contemporary Artists Touring Exhibition", September 30, 2007 – February 29, 2008, Lübeck Art Museum, Lübeck "Danshan and Clear Water: Works of Chinese and German Contemporary Artists" March 5, 2008 – June 30, 2008, Palatinate Historical Museum, Palatinate "Landscape of Desire: Shang Yang Teachers and Students Art Exhibition", September 16 – October 12, 2007, Bridge House Gallery, Beijing, "Landscape of Desire: Shang Yang Teachers and Students Art Exhibition", 2007, Shijiazhuang Museum of Contemporary Art, Shijiazhuang "Flowers and Grafts: Chinese Contemporary Art Invitational Exhibition", September 1 – December 1, 2008, OCT Art Museum, Shenzhen, "Resurrection of Tradition: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition" 2009, Basis Space, Frankfurt "The Resurrection of Tradition - Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition", 2009, Shandong Provincial Library, Jinan "Shang Yang: Dong Qichang Project", May 9 - June 10, 2009, Tian'an Time, Beijing, "The Invisible Form: Contemporary Art Exhibition of the Year of Chinese Culture", June 2 – November 18, 2012, Carl Schutter Art Center, Biedersdorf "The Invisible Form: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition Wuhan Station" August 14 – September 14, 2013, Hubei Museum of Art, Wuhan, China, 25 – 22 February 2014, Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China Contemporary Art Exhibition and 100 Years of Chinese Oil Painting, March 6 – April 6, 2014, Hubei Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China Contemporary Art Exhibition and 100 Years of Chinese Oil Painting, May 15 – June 18, 2014, Shandong Art Museum, Jinan
"Dong Qichang Project" is another peak created by Shang Yang's artistic career, "Dong Qichang" is just a borrowed title, and the main theme is "plan", in which Shang Yang refers to various "plans" and "plans" of human beings, which are destroying nature step by step. The "Dong Qichang Project" expresses such a hybrid between agricultural civilization and modern industry, full of metaphors of modernity.
Created in 2007, "Dong Qichang Project-4" is composed of two canvases, with a total length of nearly 5 meters, like a huge handscroll of Chinese painting, guiding the audience's gaze from left to right, so that the vision and mind have a wandering dimension on the picture. From the high-definition digitally printed "real landscape" on the left, to the desolate bald peak in the center, and then to the comic-like dream on the upper right, the artist skillfully guides the audience step by step into the context of his creation, and in the switch of artistic language, he laments the destruction of the environment caused by the development of science and technology, and at the same time challenges the entire tradition of ancient literati painting. It is in this context that Shang Yang uses images of ready-made landscapes for the first time, and this second-hand reality shows that the mountains and rivers are distant and illusory, and they slowly retreat to a corner. Shang Yang also pasted yellow rectangular cloth on them, suggesting that they were "all re-cut and pieced together because they are no longer complete and unified, and are being dissolved."
Lot 293
Liu Wei (b.1965) My Landscape, 2008, Oil on canvas, 200×250 cm. Liu Wei, Hongqiao Gallery, Shanghai, 2008, p. 226 My Landscape, September 10-October 16, 2008, Hongqiao Gallery, Shanghai
Landscape painting is Liu Wei's important experimental artistic creation, which is constructed in an emotion-driven form in the Western aesthetic criticism system—it abandons the "iconic" and "perfect" of the "old landscape", and is a "private landscape" with strong subjective feelings and recognition. After the extreme of "rationality" in Western aesthetics, in the trend of "sensibility", such a practice is leading the fashion, and it is also a brave exploration of the metaphysical level of literature and art in this era.
"Private landscape" in Chinese aesthetics is "the realm of the mind", the Qing Dynasty painter Fang Shishu said in "Essays on Tianyun Nunnery": "Mountains, rivers, plants and trees, create nature, this reality is also." Because of the heart to create the environment, with the hand to move the heart, this virtual realm also. Fiction is real, and it is in the ink and brush. "Landscaping is the consistent pursuit of Chinese painting—moving mountains and rivers just to fit my heart, and copying ancient sketches is only for the sake of fiction and reality. In addition to the technical level, vipassana is the core of Chinese landscape painting—"the Tao is in the rubble", through which the mountains and rocks can be used to express lyricism, and "mustard seeds and Sumeru", where the plants and trees can also pour out the profundity—the scenery of "me" is also in the "Tao".
This piece of "My Landscape" is very capable of embodying the feeling of seeing the big from the small and seeing the world with me in Chinese philosophy. The grandeur of the mountains, vegetation, and waterfalls may be just a few moss-covered moist stream stones. Life is prosperous and withered in the dry and wet, and it is said that "heaven and earth are unkind, and all things are used as dogs" - brilliant wanton growth, unbridled and enthusiastic; In his works, Liu Wei uses abstract language to retain his commonly used "skull" symbol, making the meaning of life playful and profound. This is a highly contemplative landscape belonging to Liu Wei, "Outside the heaven and earth, there is a kind of spiritual wonder." ”
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Lot 294
Zhou Chunya (b.1955), A Thousand Miles of Jinxia, 2012, Oil on canvas, 180×380 cm. "Walking in the Opposite Direction: The Spirit in Art", June 7 – July 21, 2023, You Art Center, Beijing
In 2005, Zhou Chunya saw peach blossoms all over the mountains in Longquan Mountain, Sichuan: a large number of pink, with the rhythm of the demonic and primitive vitality that makes people's blood flutter. Its "wildness" and "beauty" deeply hit the artist's desire for expression. In the tradition of Chinese painting, peach blossoms have been the source of emotional sustenance and literary inspiration for Chinese literati since ancient times. Zhou Chunya is more pure, "My paintings are all about passion and romance, desire is an integral part of human beings, something we are born with. What's more, our feelings and desires for sex are both manifestations of vitality and symbolize life in its heyday. ”
Li Xianting believes that the Peach Blossom series is a high level of Zhou Chunya's artistic creation: through the practice of oil painting, he has transformed the Chinese tradition of "painting related to calligraphy and calligraphy", and has created the image of peach blossoms. Created in 2012, "A Thousand Miles of Jinxia" is dazzling, pure imagery, full of visual tension and emotional charm. As one of the few large-scale works in the "Peach Blossom" series, the painting depicts a boundless sea of flowers surging and fragrant in the blue sky, which can be described as a feast for the senses. Although it inherits a very impactful color, the gentle temperament of this work is very unique in Zhou Chunya's "Peach Blossom" series, and the romantic pink brocade stretches for thousands of miles, just like the touching when you first see the peach blossoms. As curator Lu Peng commented, there is no spiritual perception of advocating Zen Buddhism, one flower and one world, but it is embraced with a blooming attitude, and even immersed in the glitz of the world.
Lot 295
Zeng Fanzhi (b.1964) Dusk 1989 Oil on canvas 80×100 cm. Publication of Zeng Fanzhi's Paintings, ShanghART Gallery, Shanghai, 2006, p. 1 I, We: Zeng Fanzhi's Paintings 1991-2003, Hubei Fine Arts Publishing House, Wuhan, 2003, p. 158 Zhou Chunya, Zeng Fanzhi, Ji Dachun, Dragon Gallery, Beijing, 2006, p. 52 Contemporary Artists Series No. 5: Zeng Fanzhi , Sichuan Fine Arts Publishing House, Chengdu, 2007, p. 22 "Writing on the Wall: Chinese New Realism and Avant-Garde in the Eighties and Nineties", nai010 publishers, Rotterdam, 2008, p. 107 "Zeng Fanzhi: Every Mark Its Mask", Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, 2010, p. 36 Zeng Fanzhi: A Walk, CITIC Publishing Group, Beijing, 2017, pp. 56-57 The Complete Works of Zeng Fanzhi 1984-2004, Skira Publishing, Milan, 2020, illustrated exhibition Zeng Fanzhi: A Walk, September 19-November 19, 2016, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing Zeng Fanzhi's Complete Works 1984-2004 - Book Release, Artist Symposium & Exhibition", October 22 – November 22, 2020, Yiyuan Space, Wuhan Zeng Fanzhi: Past and Present (Painting 1988-2023), September 27, 2023 – March 8, 2024, Museum of Art Pudong, Shanghai
Lot 296
Zeng Fanzhi (b.1964) Mask Series No.17 1998 Oil on canvas 179×199 cm. Zeng Fanzhi, Skira, Milan, Italy, 2019, pp. 179, 489 Chinese Art 1999, March 11 – May 10, 1999, Limn Gallery, San Francisco, USA
In 1993, Zeng Fanzhi rushed from Wuhan to Beijing with enthusiasm, eager to break out of his own world in this prosperous place. However, after stepping into Beijing, he quickly felt the impact of the rapidly changing pace of life and social environment, especially the superficial false interaction between people in the metropolis, which made him feel uncomfortable. This discomfort stimulated his strong desire to create, and finally the "Mask" series came into being. Not only are these masks strongly autobiographical, but they also constitute Zeng's most well-known and popular works, demonstrating his deep insight and unique understanding of urban life.
"Mask Series No.17" is one of the most representative ones. Through the classic metaphor of looking in the mirror, it presents the examination and confusion of Chinese people about their own living conditions and the rapid changes in society under the tide of market economy. Throughout Zeng Fanzhi's "mask" works in the 90s, there are occasional themes such as double portraits, mirrors, dogs, and picture-in-picture, but this is the only one that combines so many elements in one painting.
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Lot 325
Zhang Enli (b.1965) A Business (Diptych) 2001 Oil on canvas 100×100 cm.×2 Presentation Zhang Enli: Expression, Long Museum, Shanghai, 2023, pp. 68-69 Exhibition Zhang Enli: Expression, November 8, 2023–January 14, 2024, Long Museum, Shanghai
The year 2001 marked a watershed moment in Zhang Enli's creative style, marking his gradual shift from observation of the state of others to inner self-examination. "A Business" is the key work on the eve of this turn, and it is very rare. As the figure painting came to an end, Zhang Enli gradually turned his attention to things that were closer to daily life, and neglected objects such as packaging boxes, basins, and buckets were given a portrait-like solemnity. From the expression of emotions to the silence of introspection, it is precisely this unique alienation that makes Zhang Enli a unique representative of Chinese contemporary art on the international stage.
"A Business" continues the artist's observation of the daily and subtle places in the city. At the beginning of the millennium, with the deepening of urbanization, Zhang Enli, who had lived in Shanghai for a long time, was keenly aware of the subtle changes in the world, and his ability to see the subtleties was fully reflected in "A Business": compared with the previous group portraits of the characters full of boiling emotions, the artist narrowed down the perspective to a part, and infiltrated the subtle observation of the inner relationship of the characters into the seemingly relaxed and seemingly casual body language, and watched the deceit in cigarettes, wine, and tea through the subtext of fingering. Both "A Business" take place at a white round table, the same bird's-eye view, but with a very different story, suggesting two stages of business negotiation. In the left panel, three people form a stable composition in a triangle around the round table, two burly and plump bodies fill the space on the right side of the picture with a real sense of weight, the person on the left enters the painting with only one hand, the shirt sleeve hints at the "elite" status, he briskly flicks off the ashes, the three of them smoke and drink tea, smoke and heat rise up, but do not invade each other, everyone guards the sense of boundary, and the business is carried out in a rational atmosphere.
Lot 297
Anthony Gormley (b.1950) Present 2001 Cast Iron Sculpture 5/5342×192×35 cm. Exhibition: Mansfield College, University of Oxford, Permanent Exhibition, Oxford, UK (not in edition), 21 January-12 March 1989, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Hanlebeck, Denmark (in other editions)
“
"The Present" is my attempt to deal with the problems of the body and the mind, and it is the embodiment of mindfulness. The lower form is a closed object, armed like a mine, while the upper form is completely open, with free limbs and embraces space. It uses the static state of the sculpture to achieve a temporary interruption of the flow of life in the viewer, and through this materialistic stillness, we are invited to re-evaluate our place in time and space.
—Anthony Gormley
”
Antony Gormley is at the top of the British pyramid of contemporary art with his innovative approach to sculpture and his exploration of the human body, space and time. Challenging traditional notions of form and material, he pushes the boundaries of sculpture not only as a subject, but also as a channel for broader philosophical and existential explorations to discuss many propositions related to human existence. Gormley is known for his large-scale public installations that integrate with architectural spaces and landscapes, and through his monumental works, he interacts with the environment in thought-provoking new ways, using the human figure as a universal symbol that resonates with people from different cultural backgrounds and provokes reflection on the human living environment, with an impact that transcends the work itself.
The Present can be seen as a comprehensive expression of Antony Gormley's creative philosophy, and measures 342×192×35 cm. In the 90s of the 20th century, Gormley's gypsum hollow body shell became stronger, and Gormley began to transform the space of the body shaped by the plaster into a more solid mass in order to achieve the complete displacement of the space itself. It was during this time that Gormley produced his now iconic cast iron figure series. Created in 2001, Gormley is a two-cast iron figure based on his own body, the lower standing like a soldier, dignified, rigorous, and muscular, covered in a torpedo-like wall of copper, and the upper with outstretched limbs and outstretched arms. As Gormley states in his introduction to The Present, "It is the embodiment of mindfulness (awareness)." The lower part of the body, which symbolizes the human body, is tightly wrapped, heavy and difficult to move, while the upper body, which symbolizes the mind, is full of freedom and infinite possibilities. This is what Gormley has been inquiring about and wants and continues to invite people to explore, that the body is a place and a place of potential transformation.
"Present" has a total of 5 editions, and this piece is the only one that can be circulated in the current market, which is extremely rare. The other 4 editions are collected or stored in the following collections:
Mansfield College, University of Oxford
National Gallery of Scotland
Roche Courtyard Sculpture Park
Hall Art Foundation
For Gormley, exhibitions have always been a testing ground, and the visitor is the real subject of his work. The key to the effect of the work lies in its positive relationship with the surrounding space and the possibility of the viewer's widest possible contact with the sculpture. Since 2013, one of the editions of "The Present" has stood in the middle of the lawn of Mansfield College, Oxford University, and students, teachers and pedestrians often hold activities next to it or around it, and each scene makes people sigh at the most tender and delicate exchange between art and life, and "The Present" has become the origin of it, which is probably the most original expectation that Antony Gormley has for his work.
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