To continue the successful momentum from last autumn, Poly Auction Hong Kong will present two museum-class masterpieces, “Berlin Barack, Room 1” by internationally acclaimed Yoshitomo Nara and Zao Wou-Ki’s “12.04.60”. Alongside a number of influential Asian modern masters, the auction also brings under one roof a series of excellent contemporary Chinese works of art from the 1990s to post-2000 which fully capture the zeitgeist of the time. The Spring Auctions will be held in Hong Kong from 21–24 April.
LARRY’S LIST has highlighted 7 lots from the upcoming Spring Auctions for our art collectors.
Berlin Barack, Room 1, 2007
Mixed media installation
263 × 317 × 279 cm. (103 ½ × 124 ¾ × 109 ¾ in.)
Hothouse Doll: Painted in 2007, acrylic on canvas, 146 × 130.5 cm. (57 ½ × 51 ½ in.); Three Sisters (Berlin Version): Executed in 2007, acrylic on wood panel, 102.5 × 183 cm (40 ¼ ×72 in.).
Estimate Upon Request
“Berlin Barack, Room 1” is a large-scale house installation, embedded with “Hothouse Doll” and “Three Sisters (Berlin Version)”— two significant paintings executed on canvas and wood panels respectively. This Hothouse Doll is larger in size out of the only two artworks named “Hothouse Doll”, as recorded in Yoshitomo Nara: The Complete Works, the most complete record of Nara’s work. Yoshitomo Nara’s “three sisters” is his most classic protagonist, repeatedly appearing in his creations and their spinoff products as well. The two paintings together with the house installation project into three dimensions the rich experience of Nara’s 30-year creative career.
2) ZAO WOU-KI
12.04.60, 1960
Oil on canvas
100 × 81 cm. (39 ¼ × 32 in.)
Estimate:
HKD 45,000,000 – 65,000,000
USD 5,769,231 – 8,333,334
Zao Wou-Ki entered a new peak creative phase with great confidence in 1960, the year when he moved into a new and spacious studio. Freshness, grandeur, and imposing energy come vividly to life as the artist finds new aesthetic possibilities in the techniques of Western abstract impressionism while continuing to embody Chinese landscape paintings from the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Underlining the confluence of both Eastern and Western aesthetics, “12.04.60” is a great representative work from the crucial period of the 1960s, remarked with tremendous vitality and exploration in Zao Wou-Ki’s career.
3) LIU YE
Yellow and Blue for M, 1995
Acrylic and oil on canvas
45 × 45 cm. (17 ¾ × 17 ¾ in.)
Estimate:
HKD 6,000,000 – 8,000,000
USD 769,231 – 1,025,641
Liu Ye’s “Yellow and Blue for M”, created in 1995, is a surreal land of fantasy with a highly narrative painting style that embodies Liu Ye’s creative context from his time in Germany. Liu Ye’s dedication to this work can be seen in the presentation of light, objects and space, which alludes and pays tribute to several masters, from Piet Mondrian’s paintings to René Magritte’s bowler hat, to the mysterious space inherited from Johannes Vermeer and Giorgio de Chirico.
4) IZUMI KATO
Untitled, 2017
Oil on canvas (triptych)
Overall: 149 x 45.5 cm. (58 3/4 x 18 in.)
Estimate:
HK$ 300,000 – 500,000
US$ 38,500 – 64,100
Fascinating and enigmatic human-like creatures are the signature in Izumi Kato’s art, underscored with simple forms and vivid colours. These mysterious figures express a primitive and intuitive form of humanity, inviting the audience to recognize themselves. Since the 2000s, the artist has gained attention as an innovative artist through exhibitions both in Japan and internationally, including his participation in the 52nd Venice Biennale International Exhibition, curated by Robert Storr.
UNTITLED (ARP18-005), 2018
Acrylic on canvas
100.5 × 100 cm. (39 ½ × 39 ¼ in.)
Estimate:
HK$ 500,000 – 1,000,000
US$ 64,100 – 128,200
Inspired by the imagination and lack of rules in children’s drawings, Japanese artist Ayako Rokkaku’s iconic style features mostly female figures with candid facial expressions. Her unique technique, directly applying acrylic paint to canvas with bare fingers and hands, is easily recognizable on this current painting. The artist says, “Painting with my hands and my whole body is the most enjoyable moment. I feel that it brings life to the work.”
6) CHEN FEI
Deep in the Lucky Ocean, 2006
Acrylic on canvas
130 × 114.5 cm. (51 ¼ × 45 in.)
Estimate:
HKD 1,200,000 – 2,000,000
USD 153,846 – 256,410
Chen Fei reflects his passion for Japanese culture and manga in his paintings. “Deep in the Lucky Ocean” presents an oceanic world in the artist’s imagination, with delicate details and vibrant colours. While in pursuit of the flat-painting texture, the picture also successfully illustrates a seascape full of excitement. The artist took inspiration from the Japanese Ukiyo-e style, drawing black outlines meticulously depicting waves, characters, and the bountiful ecosystem under the sea.
The Son, 2005
Oil on canvas
149.5 × 120 cm. (58 ¾ × 47 ¼ in.)
Estimate:
HKD 1,800,000 – 2,600,000
USD 230,769 – 333,333
One of the iconic artists of Chinese contemporary art, Zhang Xiaogang’s “Bloodlines: Big Family” series is his most mature artistic creation while “The Son” is one of the most mature works in the “Bloodline: Big Family” series. The right face of the boy has a dull and lost expression – Zhang Xiaogang’s classic light and shadow treatment defined by art critic Huang Zhuan as “a unique technique that enhances the absurdity of the painting and the character of the mind”. Additionally, it also adds a surreal sense of fantasy to the picture.
