Riding the Wind and Waves: Ten Young and Middle-aged Artists Who Have Attracted Much Attention丨China Guardian 2024 Spring Auction

After the millennium, with the rapid development of new ideas and social economy, all-media technology and image information constitute a new context for the development of Chinese contemporary art, a large number of post-70s and 80s artists have grown up in this environment, and the comprehensive arrival of the image era has provided a richer visual experience for the young and middle-aged art groups who have grown up in the new century, from sociology, historical context, contemporary scene, Internet, animation, cartoon, With the extension of popular culture and the breaking of the boundaries of painting, Chinese contemporary painting is increasingly showing a new look and prospect of diversity. China Guardian has always maintained a continuous focus on contemporary new forces, and after ten years of precipitation, its stability has gradually increased, and it has become the plate with the highest density of absorbing new collection forces in recent years. Based on this background, this season will continue to deepen and segment the market, carefully select the list of young and middle-aged artists whose creative careers have entered a mature and stable period, and gather the iconic works of artists such as Wang Xingwei, Ouyang Chun, Wang Guangle, Huang Yuxing, Qiu Xiaofei, Song Kun, Chen Fei, Wei Jia, Yan Bing, Gao Yu, Kang Haitao, etc., to deeply sort out the evolving creative outlook and concepts of each artist.

01 Wang Xingwei

Lot 327

Wang Xingwei (b.1969) Tears of Remorse, 2001, Oil on canvas, 295×198 cm. Publication of "Two Kicks" Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2006, p. 142 Wang Xingwei, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, World Book Publishing Company, Beijing, 2013, p. 115, exhibition "Two Kicks: Chinese Contemporary Art Exhibition", November 11-December 15, 2006, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2006Wang Xingwei, May 19 – August 18, 2013, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing

After the turn of the millennium, Wang Xingwei's creation gradually moved away from the game and dialogue on art history, and turned to weaken and strip away the traditional formal language, in order to explore more experimentation and possibilities within the painting language. The giant oil painting "Tears of Remorse" is one of Wang Xingwei's representative masterpieces in this transitional period.

Created in 2001, this painting depicts a very theatrical and dramatic scene. In the picture, a woman with a nearly naked head is on her knees, her hands trying to hide her face so that no one can see her face and expression, leading people to wonder if the reason for the crying is from an emotional setback, or a more realistic accident. In contrast, a huge lightning bolt in the dark night sky suddenly tore apart the dark space of the woman from top to bottom on a 3-meter-high canvas, a grand scene that often appears in similar movies, juxtaposed with the woman's intimate emotions, making the picture show a certain sense of absurdity.

Wang Xingwei's treatment of the female figure and the entire background environment is between casual and deliberately vulgar, and the painting language is unified in a low-finished, unadorned "simple painting method", with a slightly exaggerated style. This loose new language symbolizes a new stage in Wang Xingwei's creation: he jumps out of the appropriation of art history, and turns to the method of frequently changing and disassembling the composition of the picture, trying to separate the value and meaning of the medium and form of painting language, that is, by simplifying the form, in order to shape the image, as a new starting point for creation. During the transition period, Wang Xingwei began to move away from relying on traditional paradigms, but tried to make media language gain active and independent value, and let them be automatically generated in his personal category of meaning. "Tears of Remorse" is undoubtedly the historical starting point and important witness of Wang Xingwei's subsequent conceptual painting creation.

02 Ouyang Chun

Lot 321

Ouyang Chun (b.1974) Angel 2011 Oil on canvas 170×170 cm. Publication of "Children", Today Art Museum Press, Hong Kong, 2012, p. 120 "70s Elite Progression", Grand Future Forest House Gallery, Taipei, 2011, plate pages 32-33 "Children: Ouyang Chun Solo Exhibition", September 15-29, 2012, Today Art Museum, Beijing, 70s Elite Progression November 19 – December 18, 2011, Grand Future Linshe Gallery, Taipei

In 2012, Ouyang Chun made an exhibition "Children" that spanned nearly 15 years, and for him, it was a staged summary, showing how painting can make people enjoy the simplicity and happiness of children. "Angel" is one of the important works, showing the important foundation and source of Ouyang Chun's creation—that is, painting allows him to enjoy the simplicity and happiness of a child.

In contrast to the unrestrained colors and emotions of most of Ouyang Chun's works, the rooms and night sky depicted in this work exude a rare atmosphere of peace and tranquility, which is therefore particularly special. On a quiet summer night, the boy had fallen asleep, but from the objects that filled the table, the image of a little naughty bag who loved to play, make trouble, love to draw, and love to read jumped on. The deep blue night sky is full of stars, and the five-pointed star outlined by the highly saturated bright yellow is brilliant and unobtrusive, just like Van Gogh's "Starry Night on the Rhône", quietly illuminating this small corner.

The purpose behind these images is not to present or simply narrate personal experiences, but to sublimate Ouyang Chun's emotions of the past. The seemingly random presentation of various objects on the canvas, and the small details of the allegorical feeling are full of the simple charm of the painting itself, and also highlight the texture of Ouyang Chun's painting language.

Lot 322

Ouyang Chun (b.1974) Whaling Fleet No.3 2006 Oil on canvas 200×280 cm. Publication of "Whaling", Han Zhiyan Contemporary Space, Timezone 8, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2008, p. 50 "Whaling - Ouyang Chun Solo Exhibition", May 24 – June 15, 2008, Han Zhiyan Contemporary Space, Beijing

Ouyang Chun's affection for "whales" is special, and he believes that life is a process of whaling. In 2006, he created a series of shocking "Whaling" inspired by "whales". This series of paintings vividly depicts the cruelty and magnificence of whaling in fairy-tale colors through unique perspectives and wonderful chapters, but under the gorgeous surface, there is a profound interrogation of human nature and social reality. Because of this, the "Whaling" series has become one of Ouyang Chun's most popular creations, and is deeply loved and sought after by collectors.

"Whaling Fleet No.3" presents a close-up close-up shot of a whaling ship speeding in the sea, five whales that Ouyang Chun sees as "beautiful angels, always cruising in the vast sea", are now hanging high on the mast and hull like martyrs, and there are still shocking scars on their bodies, reproducing the cruelty of the capture process. The style of the work is simple and strong, with impasto and rough brushstrokes, which accentuate the texture of the picture and the hidden sense of violence, while the bright pure colors directly applied on the canvas release the purest and most direct emotions. Ouyang Chun's difficult experiences in the early days shaped his unique outlook on life and artistic style, which made him often examine urban life from a critical perspective, and express the loneliness of the inner world of urban people through brilliant colors. In the ruined landscape, Ouyang Chun sees light and poetry, which may be the philosophical connotation contained in his works.

Lot 181

Ouyang Chun (b.1974) Banner 2005 Oil on canvas 180×230 cm. Publication of "Brilliant - Ouyang Chun", Timezone 8, Hong Kong, 2006, Illustrated "Brilliant - Ouyang Chun's Solo Exhibition", November 18, 2006 – January 5, 2017, Star Gallery, Beijing

03 Huang Yuxing

Lot 323

Huang Yuxing (b.1975), Sacred Mountain, Arisawa, 2017-2019, Oil on canvas, 200×300 cm.

In the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Shambhala is a spiritual kingdom. The secret science of Shambhala is known as the Kalachakra teachings, and Shambhala is revered as a paradise for poets and a paradise for all beings. In Buddhist culture, which has been passed down for thousands of years, there are more than 800 scriptures that record the beautiful legend of Shambhala. In 2017, Huang Yuxing opened a new work, The Holy Mountain, a huge painting that was not completed until 2019 and was inspired by the depiction of Shambhala in Tibetan Buddhism.

In the painting, the artist has followed the fluorescent colors he has used a lot since 2011, and the superimposed lines are piled up into an infinite stretch of mountains, and the Northern Song Dynasty painter Guo Xi summarized in "The Elegance of Forests and Springs: Landscape Training" The special "high-reaching", "far-reaching" and "Pingyuan" three-distance methods of Chinese landscape painting still have traces to follow, but Huang Yuxing has not fallen into the shackles of tradition, and the various moss spots and methods are not in his paintings, and even the smooth waves of the distant mountains are more like the appearance of the sea. The countless beams of light between the mountains and rivers seem to imply that there are auspicious treasures that exude aura upwards, and blend with the traces of flowing paint, and it is difficult to tell whether the wonders of the sacred mountain are really illusory. Just as the pine shadows on the photographic negatives stand in the mountains in white, the more you enter the picture, the more details can be observed, and the wind horse flags, parts of some temples or prayer flags, and treasure beads in Tibetan areas also loom over. "Temples and prayer flags are common symbols in Tibetan areas, and this treatment is similar to the way in which realistic insects are used in the background of Qi Baishi's works. Huang Yuxing said that in this work, compared with the past, a lot of realistic elements have been added, just like in many of Qi Baishi's works, he wants to convey a feeling of "seeing the big in the small, seeing the small in the big, seeing the small in the big, the virtual in the real, and the real in the virtual".

Huang Yuxing does not give a fixed relationship between time and space in "The Holy Mountain". Everything is broken up, and time and space can be reorganized according to the theme. He traveled all the way from Lhasa to Kathmandu, Nepal, and saw waterfalls, streams, snow-capped mountains, meadows, mountain lakes, etc., and the rich natural wonders brought him endless imagination. The dense handling of the picture elements and the ups and downs of the plot may be reflected in "The Holy Mountain", but Huang Yuxing never thought of reinterpreting the classics of traditional Chinese art in the past, and what he expressed was the cognition and experience that belonged to the present. Huang Yuxing, who wanted to be an archaeologist and geologist when he was younger, collected many fossil specimens, and the lines in his paintings were like shale, and the veins, mantle, and sections of the mountain that had been cut in half were like agate. Those sustained interests were finally embodied in "landscapes". Just as people imagine Tibet's paradise on earth as another narrative, the pursuit of ideals returns to reality and opens a new chapter.

Lot 185

Huang Yuxing (b.1975) Don't Play with You, 2005, oil on canvas, 150×230 cm. Published Next Stop, Cartoon?, China Water Resources and Hydropower Press, Intellectual Property Press, Beijing, 2005, pp. 52-53 New Interface 3: Searching for the Future, Red Bridge Gallery, Shanghai, 2007, p.136 The Redstone Foundation Collection, Shanghai, 2008, pp. 30-31 Next Stop, Cartoon?", April 1-12, 2005, Century Hanmo Gallery, Star Gallery, 798 Art District 3818 Library, Beijing New Interface 3 - Searching for the Future, September 6-16, 2007, Hongqiao Gallery, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai

Redstone Foundation Collection Exhibition, September 10-October 6, 2008, Redstone Foundation, Shanghai

Lot 186

Huang Yuxing (b.1975) Chopin 2006 Oil on canvas 340×250 cm. Publication "Hole: Huang Yuxing", Star Gallery, Beijing, 2007, illustrated exhibition "Hole: Huang Yuxing Solo Exhibition", April 21 – May 20, 2007, Star Gallery, Beijing

Huang Yuxing: Under the Dome, October 26, 2023 – January 1, 2024, Long Museum, Shanghai

04 Wei Jia

Lot 190

Wei Jia (b.1975) tells you that in 2010, acrylic on canvas, 90×120 cm.

publication

《幽明微岸》,Blue Kingfish Limited,2011年,第66页至第69页

exhibit

Wei Jia's Solo Exhibition, April 18 – May 18, 2011, Star Gallery, Beijing

"Tell You" was created in 2010, when Wei Jia was experiencing some life changes, and the deep doubts and thoughts brought about by such changes began to appear in his paintings, and this emotion became deeper and deeper. The previous almost "perfect" picture was shattered, and "Tell You" implied confusion, dissociation, confusion and sadness. His expression is naked, undisguised, down to the heart. Wei Jia's expression at each stage is closely related to his state of existence, from his most real survival situation.

Lot 191

Wei Jia (b.1975), Ordinary People, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 150×120 cm

Wei Jia 2004-2008, Star Gallery, Beijing, 2008, pp. 06+2

exhibit

Wei Jia 2004-2008, 15 November-15 December 2008, Star Gallery

In 2003, in order to pursue a more liberal way of painting, Wei Jia switched from printmaking to graphic painting. His first acrylic paintings have the slight bitterness and sweetness of youthful sorrow, full of youthful and splendid feelings. "The Ordinary Generation" is full of cruel and beautiful qualities, the boy steps on the glass barefoot, and the bright red blood spreads in the water, faintly expressing a sense of youthful depression and soul floating.

05 Wang Guangle

Lot 330

Wang Guangle (b.1976), terrazzo, 2006.8-92006, acrylic on canvas, 180×160 cm

Wang Guangle, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Beijing Commune, Ostfilden, Beijing, 2014, p. 37

Started in 2002, the "Terrazzo" series was the beginning of Wang Guangle's career as a professional artist, which not only laid the foundation for his early creative language style, but also laid the groundwork for the subsequent series such as "Shou Qi" and "Untitled".

Created in 2006, the artist's fifth year in the series, Terrazzo 2006.8.9 continues to subtract from previous works in the series—the halo-like expressions that often appear in paintings and guide the visual direction are replaced by a purer refinement of the theme of terrazzo. As a result, terrazzo has become the most important and intuitive object of description in the painting, and has further become the index of this series of topics. At the same time, the artist moved away from his previous use of black, dark gray and blue in favor of lighter shades of white and light gray, an exploration that continues to this day. Due to the visual attributes of the white series, "Terrazzo 2006.8.9" has lost its original full and colorful visual tension and turned into a more stretched, quiet and poetic atmosphere. Regarding the above two turns, Wang Guangle once said in an interview that since 2004, he has tried to further "hide emotions" in his paintings, so as to create works that make people linger repeatedly between the tangible and the intangible.

"Terrazzo 2006.8.9" is not only the art of concept, but also the art of time. Wang Guangle is more concerned with the process of creation than with the finished work, and terrazzo, which requires countless superimpositions and covers, is exactly in line with the artist's most important concept: visualizing the passage of time.

Lot 189

Wang Guangle (b.1976), Shou lacquer, 1505292015 years, acrylic on canvas

90.5×138 cm.

The inspiration for the longevity lacquer series began in 2004, when Wang Guangle extracted a childhood memory of his time in the Fujian countryside: the local elders painted their coffin wood and repainted it again every year for the rest of their lives. Year after year, life goes on, and the paint grows like the rings of a tree. Through the iterative process of accumulating paint, the thickness of the paint records the length of life, and it is also a silent and invisible rebellion against death. This impressed the young Wang Guangle, and with the folk customs of his hometown, he began to look for ways to combine Western painting media with local cultural traditions.

In Shou Lacquer 150529, the canvas is painted horizontally with long, wavy lines that resemble a TV color bar signal or a wood texture. The contrast between white and highly saturated blue imbues the painting with a compelling visual power, while also symbolizing the fusion of life and death, form and process.

The creation process of most "shou lacquer" requires about 200 paintings, which takes nearly four months. Each work is marked with the date of its completion, and it also plays the role of a private diary archive, which is not only a physical physical existence, but also a clue to the search for the meaning of life through creation, and affirms the value of life itself through the creativity naturally generated in time. The slowly elongated ribbon of time in the painting serves as a directional record of a specific period of time, reflecting Wang Guangle's contemplation of existential philosophy.

06 Qiu Xiaofei

Lot 328

Qiu Xiaofei (b.1977) playing the piano, 2005, oil on canvas

140×100 cm.

Different from the yellowing and worn-out nostalgia of the "Heilongjiang Box" in the same period, "Playing the Piano" is more interesting in the nostalgic background, especially the light and clear colors reveal a kind of lyrical memory, and the expressive brushstrokes of pictographic and freehand interpenetration are quiet and dynamic stretches, fresh and lovely. Created in 2005, "Playing the Piano" is a typical expression of Qiu Xiaofei's early memories of the past. From aristocratic musical instruments to middle-class "social anchors", nearly a hundred years of literature, art, film and television have created a collective aesthetic of "playing the piano", and "playing the piano" has also become a long-awaited situational memory.

This work depicts such an idealized everyday moment: the window is surrounded by greenery, sprinkled with bright sunlight, and the interior scene includes traditional classical palace lamps and landscape paintings and calligraphy, as well as exquisite foreign pianos and vase decorations. If the chemical reflection of shutter, photosensitivity and pigment freezes and murders our memories, then Qiu Xiaofei uses brushstrokes, colors and light to rescue these landscapes, scenes and people of the past. His job is not to resurrect yesterday, but to give them new life. Dynamic stretch, fresh and lovely.

Lot 329

Qiu Xiaofei (b.1977) Chen Ji 2010 Oil on canvas 200×310 cm. Publication Qiu Xiaofei, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing, 2010, p.36 Exhibition "Climbing the Stairs Has Gone to the Stairs - Qiu Xiaofei Solo Exhibition", September 4 – October 10, 2010, Boers-Li Gallery, Beijing

Between 2005 and 2006, around the same time as the Heilongjiang Box's solo exhibition, Qiu Xiaofei's family members suffering from mental problems began to pay attention to people's mental state, as well as the political and "ideological" context behind this mental illness. After reading a lot of notes and texts written by his family, Qiu Xiaofei began to try to translate those feelings in a visual way, and then explored consciousness and latent psychological activities in his creation.

Completed in 2009, "Chen Ji" is an important work created based on this background. By rewriting literary illustrations, the work expresses concern for the complexity of the spiritual consciousness of the Chinese at the time—a complexity that lies in its peculiar mixture of idealism, materialism, and utilitarianism. With both a sense of nostalgia and an intuitive sense of questioning, "Chen Ji" begins to shed the burden of nostalgia while ushering in the peak of early maturity, reflecting a critical turning point for the artist towards a new stage.

Through the hazy snow in winter, the carriage transporting wood, building houses, and the grayscale surface simplifying everything in the scene, only sketching to capture and construct a "feeling", the image of "Chen Ji" comes from the literary illustration - the forestry logging construction in Northeast China during the period of socialist industrial construction. The large size of 3 meters, the impasto technique and the content of old photographs can be seen in the early days, and the quiet sadness that pervades the memory also continues the artist's individual expression. By disrupting and recombining reality and memory, history and documents, text and image characteristics and their constant relationships with each other, through the artist's extraction and transformation, it reflects the "madness" of history in the process of creating individual consciousness, and at the same time reflects the weak reality in the seemingly clear personal will.

07 Song Kun

Lot 332

Song Kun (b.1977) Wave (set of 2 pieces), 2017, Oil on canvas, 110×145 cm.×2 Published, Song Kun 2001-2024, A Thousand Times Studio, Beijing, 2024, pp. 249-250

ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, November 8-12, 2017, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai

Art Chengdu International Contemporary Art Fair, April 25-29, 2018, Taikoo Li Plaza, Chunxi Road, Chengdu

The "wave" that revolves around the ocean and mutants is an important theme that runs through Song Kun's creative vein. On the one hand, the boundlessness of the sea and the never-ending waves allow loneliness to be refracted on the image of "waves", and because of the never-ending tides, the image of the "six realms of reincarnation" in Buddhism is extended. Completed in 2017, Waves profoundly echoes these ideas, and the juxtaposition of the most basic organism, the jellyfish, with the cyborg's body, constitutes a vivid imaginary landscape of "post-human" society. Inorganic shapes, transparent qualities, and soft and ruthless jellyfish are one of Song Kun's favorite image motifs. The jellyfish without musculoskeletal may seem weak, but its delicate tentacles are covered with poisonous threads, which are both beautiful and deadly. At the same time, the life span of jellyfish is as short as a few weeks to a few months, and the life span of a single individual is short, but the reproduction of the population lasts for hundreds of millions of years.

In another couplet of "Waves", the woman with the "cyborg body" as the object has the shadow of the artist herself. Song Kun's visual setting is a very high-tech level of "post-human", when the body is constantly technologized, the spirit can also be electronic, and the soul and body are separated, how should the human soul and body move into the future?

Lot 333

Song Kun (b.1977) Animism 2018 Oil on canvas 110×145 cm

In 2018's "Animism", Song Kun depicts her daughter, with a smooth and small delicate face, fair and delicate skin, but the body is geometric, and the mechanical parts embedded in the body and the dislocation of mechanization suggest that human beings are controlled by order and then cyborgized existence. Sacred blue tones and white high-gloss lines add clarity to the picture, a transparency that derives from the Buddhist concept of the "Pure Land of Oriental Glass," which refers to the mutual cause and effect of the spirit and the body.

Such a high-tech mechanical futuristic man, but with the ethereal "divinity", can not help but remind people of Boris Groys (Boris Groys) once pointed out: in the digital age, the Internet has become a new way of religious belief and dissemination, and at the same time, the Internet itself has become a kind of faith. Weird and ethereal, cool and authentic, "Animism" integrates oriental aesthetics, different dimensions and futuristic science fiction elements, and the identity and shape of pan-culture respond to the current society's questions about human beings and their subconscious existence, and the complex relationship between nature and culture is like a transformation and transformation of cultural life, providing a new direction for exploring the aesthetic concept of the future.

08 Yan Bing

Lot 318

Yan Bing (b.1980), Mushroom No.152019, Oil on canvas, 150×220 cm. Exhibited

Yan Bing – The weather was fine at first, 14 September – 10 November 2019, ShanghART, Beijing

Yan Bing's paintings are known for focusing on everyday and ordinary objects, and the "Mushroom" series, which began in 2018, presents a clear contrast with the "Potato" series, which is full of local warmth. Yan Bing believes that the form and attributes of mushrooms are abstract and more 'cold', and their dark, flat, and mysterious qualities can help them construct a purer spiritual field.

The artist chooses to place the mushroom as a single subject in the center of the painting, and the dark and vast background sets off the weight and texture of the mushroom, showing a grander spiritual narrative, as if linking the dimensions of time, space, and life, showing simple and complex emotions like montage. Yan Bing's depiction of mushrooms is no longer a cheap, ordinary, and humble symbol, but integrates the artist's life experience, personal memory and emotional experience, creating a three-dimensional and vivid artistic image, with a certain portrait meaning.

Yan Bing starts from the ordinary, stimulates his imagination through touch and gaze, and experiences more profound power. Although the painter adopts a realistic painting language, he gives spiritual power to everyday objects.

09 Gao Yu

Lot 319

Gao Yu (b.1981), Cheers to the Chosen One (diptych), 2010, oil on board, 208×132.6 cm.×2

publication

Cheers to the Unsuccessful, Star Gallery, Beijing, 2010, pp. 75-84 Cheers to the Unsuccessful —— Gao Yu Solo Exhibition, November 13–December 20, 2010, Star Gallery, Beijing

By 2006, Gao Yu had stripped two new images from his earlier panda GG image: Peter Pan and Dada, a play on words he devated: "If panda is separated, it can be written as Peter Pan and Dada." It is not difficult to see from these two phrases that they are both synonymous with the anti-orthodox world and the anti-adult order. The emergence of the new image has also brought Gao Yu into the broader field of visual culture, and his works have presented multiple visual meanings and cultural connotations. Created in 2010, Cheers to the Losers is one of the most important landmark creations of this period, a schematic parody of Édouard Manet's famous Luncheon on the Grass, the founder of Impressionism, and in 1863, at the age of 30, Manet sent Luncheon on the Grass to the official salon but was rejected.

In 2010, Gao Yu, who is also almost 30 years old, intelligently reinterpreted the classics of art history with bright colors, lively shapes and exaggerated moods. In terms of image design, Dada, who wears a white top hat and jeans, and never leaves his wine, is most like Gao Yu himself, which gives this painting some personal flavor. Dada originally means "Dadaism", and it is a radical who destroys existence with emptiness and uses extreme nihilism to deny all existing values. But in this painting, the radical Dada is also silenced, unable to echo, unable to refute, unable to be nihilistic, and unable to even get drunk and escape, which is ironic.

Gao Yu's distinctive personal style and cynical attitude reveal the change of mindset of a young artist in the process of maturing and adapting to society. As a trendsetter in the market, Gao Yu has experienced the ups and downs of the market after 2008, from the trendsetter to the drowning, and the people who are "selected" may not be able to go to the end. Just like the story of "Lunch on the Grass", perhaps, in the end, history may still toast to the losers.

Lot 306

Gao Yu (b.1981), Art is not a good prescription, 2005, acrylic on canvas, 199×261.5 cm.

Created in 2005, Art Is Not a Cure for the World is typical of Gao Yu's early works, drawing on the exaggerated expressive techniques of comics to explore the dynamics, colors, and symmetrical compositions of the subject. A giant ginseng stands in the center, but two of Gao's iconic pandas have diametrically opposed attitudes towards it, with the green panda opening its mouth wide open and frantically nibbling on the ginseng, while the other blue panda holds the ginseng aloft in an attempt to abandon it. Ginseng is an important medicinal material in traditional Chinese medicine, which has a great tonic effect, but in Gao Yu's writing, ginseng shows signs of decay, like a kind of decaying cultural dross. Gao Yu's superb painting skills create a vivid background with vivid colors and splashes of fluid, creating a strong visual appeal. THEN HE SHOWED HIS UNEQUIVOCAL ATTITUDE: "ART IS NOT ELIXLR", WHICH PUNCTURED PEOPLE'S BEAUTIFUL IMAGINATION OF ART, AND WAS FULL OF REBELLION AND ABSURDITY.

10 Chen Fei

Lot 320

Chen Fei (b.1983), Barren Mountain, 2010, acrylic, 240×150 cm.

publication

Stranger: Chen Fei, Today Art Museum Publishing Co., Ltd., Hong Kong, 2011, pp. 46-47, 19-30 November 2011, Today Art Museum, Beijing

In 2011, Chen Fei was 28 years old when he held his solo exhibition "Stranger" at Today Art Museum. At that time, the media summarized this important solo exhibition as the artist's "first staged review of his artistic career", and a total of 17 works were exhibited, all of which were presented in a "super flat" manner, with anime-like visual tension and film-like scenes. This season's "Barren Mountain" is one of Chen Fei's 2011 solo exhibitions "Strangers", which is so detailed that Chen Fei jokingly calls this depiction "acrylic brushwork".

The theme of "Barren Mountain" is derived from the classic story "Little Red Riding Hood" from Grimm's Fairy Tales, rooted in European folklore, with cultural symbols related to the themes of innocence, deception, and survival, and is by no means a simple fairy tale. Its variations in different cultures highlight the universal theme of the human experience, which fits perfectly with the "cult" culture that Chen Fei has always been obsessed with. In Barren Mountain, which is 240x150 cm in size, the forest undisputedly occupies the largest area of the picture, changing from emerald green to almost black dark green, which contrasts with and suppresses the girl's red hat. The two protagonists, Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, are separated by powerful tree trunks, which strongly divide the narrative into two separate spaces, and Gauguin often used this composition in his work to create character conflicts and plot twists for the picture. Little Red Riding Hood's face comes from the face of the female protagonist that Chen Fei commonly used in that period, and he depicts the moment when Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf meet each other's eyes, one bright and one dark, one completely exposed and one unpredictable. And when the lurker is discovered, it often means the end of the lurking and the beginning of the damage.

The scene of "Barren Mountain" is the static of the last moment, all the momentum is full, and the plot of the next second will be staged in the minds of every audience. Chen Fei suppresses all the meanings in "Barren Mountain" under the picture with silence, and in the woods where there is no wind and grass, Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf are still in a stalemate, and it is difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.

China Guardian Spring Auction 2024

Shanghai Boutique Exhibition, April 27-29, Grand Ballroom, 2nd Floor, Shanghai Tower (501 Yincheng Middle Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai)

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