Oil on canvas

90 x 90 cm. 35 3/8 x 35 3/8 in.

LITERATURE
2016, Love Ai Jing, Marlborough Gallery, New York, p.35
2017, Ai Jing Love Art 2007 – 2017, Foreign Languages Press Co. Ltd, Beijing, p.18-19
EXHIBITED
16 Nov – 30 Dec 2016, Love Ai Jing, Marlborough Gallery, New York

PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

Walking - In the Name of Love
The Colour Secrets of Ai Jing

In 2000, former singer Ai Jing decided to focus on art, transforming the musical melodies in her head into a rich and sweeping world of color. Ai learned painting from Zhang Xiaogang, who taught her traditional painting technique. Since 2008, she has held a series of solo exhibitions, including at the Today Art Museum and National Museum of China, Beijing, Marlborough Gallery in New York and the Church of San Leonardo in Italy. In 2017, Ai was listed as one of the “top 32 women artists in the world” by the Hirshhorn Museum. The Walking in the Sun series takes the symbol “LOVE” and extends it into a complex and changeable world of color. On offer at this year's spring auction is Walking in the Sun#5, an important work from the series of the same name.

Ai Jing incorporates concepts and language into her painting language. As such, if viewers look carefully at Walking in the Sun#5 they can make out the shapes of the letters “L-O-V-E” hidden within the yellows, oranges, wine-reds, bright greens and smoky pinks of the painting. As part of the creative process, the artist takes on the role of a craftsperson, repeatedly using new colors that cover each other, creating alternating and repeating hues akin to a cluster of blooming flowers that highlight their radiance and beauty. Through her pursuit of color Ai Jing also showcases a keen exploration of light. Perhaps the brilliant flashes under a scorching sun are the moment at which one is soothed by love, remembered as the warm embrace of a lover.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
USD: 129,000 – 193,500

Auction Result:
HKD: --