Oil on canvas

41 × 27.3 cm. × 7 16 1/8 x 10 3/4 x 7 in.

Signed in Chinese, dated, titled and inscribed with three artist’s seals on each reverse

LITERATURE
2016, The Hours: Chou Chu-Wang Solo Exhibition, Tainan, p.74-75
EXHIBITED
31 Oct – 3 Nov 2014, Art Taipei, InArt Space, Taipei
13 Feb – 26 Mar 2016, The Hours: Chou Chu-Wang Solo Exhibition, Tainan

PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

Sand Becomes Stones, Draw the Stones to Keep It in Mind.
Chou Chu-Wang, the Painter Infatuated with Stones
During China’s thousands of years of civilization, stones gradually entered the spiritual world of people from ancient mythological imaginations and became the focus of refined scholars and a symbol of civilization. Stones mean everything to Mi Fu, the calligrapher in the Song Dynasty. The artist, Chow Chu-Wang, who also is infatuated with stones, sees the stones as the memory in life. She collected various stones and turned it into a delicate and realistic creation. Chow Chu-Wang was born in Pingtung and graduated from the Department of Fine Arts in National Kaohsiung Normal University. She took the cobblestone on the beachside in her hometown as the creation objects and developed a new horizon based on her individual views. Her works which won the hearts of the audience are collected in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Union Culture & Art Foundation and so on. Also, her creations received the Kaohsiung Arts Award and Taipei Fine Arts Award Grand Prize separately in 2003 and 2007, and were afforded great recognition in the art world.
Mystical Stones Fall from the Sky, Animism Applies to Everything
In the Chinese culture of stone appreciation, the collection of special stones has always been talked about. Many expensive stones are named as "the remaining stones for patching the sky" from Nuwa and becomes a witness to the continuation of ancient mythological imagination. Chow Chu-Wang integrated this culture meaning to her work, Rainbow Stones (Lot 728), different shapes of special stones for patching the sky painted with the seven colors of the rainbow. She stacked layers of pigment until the oil color protruded from the scene to form a three-dimensional effect. As the stones stand out from the painting, its mystical color is also highlighted. The artist solidifies the myths and memories with the stones from the sky into the lines of the scene and interprets the meaning of patching the sky with stones.
Earthen Stones Wait Silently
The even and fine grit condenses into an image in the work of Stones Islet--Waiting (Lot 729). The disorderly cobblestones are shaped like a coordinate piece of the island and an unknown area of the sea is waiting to be discovered and collected. The artist's persistent creation, as the sandstone, completes the life cycle in nature, uses her experience to record the times and penetrates to the grain inside as the mark of stopping the time. Chow Chu-Wang's fine and highly realistic skills show a three-dimensional sense. While the viewers are amazed by her incisive brushwork, they can also feel the repetition and subtle meaning in her creation.

Price estimate:
HKD: 180,000 - 250,000
USD: 23,100 - 32,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 212,400