Oil on canvas

200 x 160 cm. 78 3/4 x 63 in.

Signed in Chinese on reverse
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by present owner from the artist
Private Collection, Asia

The reachable constellations from afar
Zhao Zhao's Constellations Series:
Known for his wit and audacity, which are exceptional in the contemporary art scene, Zhao Zhao was born in Xinjiang in 1982. With his dynamic ideas and bold execution, Zhao Zhao relentlessly challenges the traditional meanings of art. Through questioning reality, he reveals to his viewers a space that seems to be constantly changing.
Zhao Zhao's artistic trajectory
Zhao Zhao grew up in the expansive frontier of western China. Due to his subversive character, he used to be regularly interrogated, even 're-educated'. Hence he possesses a political awareness that is unusual among his peers. He attended the Xinjiang Arts Institute, which subsequently changed the course of his life.
After graduation, Zhao Zhao started his collaboration with Ai Weiwei, an artist who is also transgressive in nature. They created documentaries that shed light on the social issues in the Chinese society and sparked off considerable debate. When Ai Weiwei was censored in 2011, Zhao Zhao started his independent artistic career. Within ten years he has garnered attention as one of the young emerging artists. Zhao Zhao continues to tackle different social issues in his work. From creating sculptures with found objects, to creating private emotional cosmos with brushstrokes, Zhao Zhao seems to have become a nightwalker in the art world.
The Origin of Constellations Series
In 2007, Zhao Zhao first showed his fascination with the effect of violent impact in his work Fragments. Six years later, he used shot glass panels to create the Constellations series, which was shown at the Art Basel Hong Kong 2013. This is the basis of the ongoing Constellations series, a set of large-scale artworks in which violence and beauty coexist. The artist seeks to render onto the canvases scattering shot holes and cracks into clean sharp powerful lines. The Constellations series marks the artist's shift from his earlier performativity and irony. Banishing complex compositions, these fractures are turned into maps of radiating constellations in the night sky.
The Shining Star: Constellations
Constellations, which was created in 2017, will appear in this autumn auction. Fractures created by gunshots are meticulously rendered onto the canvas. The artist depicts the formation of violence slowly with scrupulous craftsmanship. He uses countless brushstrokes to portray restless planets in the midst of a universe filled with light. A sense of foreboding is therefore imbued with the tranquil beauty of the stars.
In terms of techniques, Zhao Zhao restrained his palette to only Prussian blue and titanium white. He uses the simplest means to reproduce these stunning clusters of stars. The scattered radial lines intertwine with each other. Violent energy disperses infinitely from different epicentres, creating a jarring sense of beauty, which arises from the interaction between destruction and creation. The contrast between the motif and the form not only conveys an urge of the individual for a sense of security, it also reminds us of the pervasiveness of violence.

Price estimate:
HKD: 250,000 - 450,000
USD: 31,800 - 57,300

Auction Result:
HKD : 731,600