Mixed media on canvas

81×112 cm 31 7/8×44 1/8 in

Signed in English with artist’s seal on middle right
PROVENANCE
Private collection， AsiaBorn in Shanghaiin in 1935， Ku Fu-sheng followed his father General Ku Chu-tung to Taiwan in 1949. Although Ku Fu-sheng’s family had high expectations on him since he was a child， he didn’t follow his father’s occupation to become a soldier. Instead， he persisted on his own career path in the field of art. In 1958， Ku Fu-sheng graduated from the College of Arts of Taiwan Normal University and joined the “Fifth Moon Painting Society” founded by Liu Kuo-sung， Han Hsiang-ning， Chuang Che and others. All of his works are set in dreary tone that depict the struggles of the society and is consequently named as “The Blue Period” by his friend Bai Xianyong. His works were well received on the Sao Paulo Sixth Biennialheld in Brazil. As the first artist in the “Fifth Moon Painting Society” who had hosted a solo exhibition， Ku Fu-sheng never slowed down his steps in discovering arts. With the strong expressional language and profound artistic meanings， his works have significantly promoted the development of Modern Art in Taiwan.
As an important representative figure in Taiwan’s Modern Art， Ku Fu-sheng is an expert in applying various materials to spark interesting tastes and aesthetic senses by chances. In the 1960s， he developed a school of his own in painting human bodies in a unique and abstract style. Ku Fu-sheng used to put the painting canvas on the wall and portrait human bodies and still objects directly on it. Through the distorted body figures， the neat lines and cold colours， we could identify an artistic spirit that cares for the dialogues of soul inside a person.
The two works on auction are representative works of Ku Fu-sheng in his artistic career. One of the works， Will Return （Lot 777）， is created with the silhouette technique to portrait a figure in between the reality and the unreal world. The figure seems to be at loose ends when facing the rapidly changing environment. In this painting， the head， arms and legs of the figure are covered in colourful lines， forming a sharp contrast with the monochrome background. It gives people a subtle sense of illusion that distinguishes the “figure” from the “ground”. The painting reflects an art pursuit of Ku Fu-sheng which is to bring forth the new through the old. Also in the painting， a stopwatch with bright red hands is especially placed on the background. The seemingly absurd picture conveys a clear intrinsic cue that environment could have huge impacts on people.
The other painting Let the Games Begin （Lot 776）， depicts a moving crowd as if they are floating on a huge orange screen. The painter creates a surreal world that is ever whirling and changing from a special angle by using high saturation colours， and highlights the vitality of figures through a modern perspective by using the collage making method in a both precise and free manner. The painting not only demonstrates the diversified impacts of western images on the artists’ creating styles， but also reveals Ku Fu-sheng’s philosophical world view and his deep understandings of modernism.

Price estimate:
HKD: 220,000 – 320,000
USD: 28,200 – 41,000

Auction Result:
HKD: 259,600