Acrylic on paper and canvas

139.5 x 244 cm.54 7/8 x 96 1/8 in.

Signed in Chinese on lower left
Qiu Deshu
(b.1948-)
Under the tutelage of Shanghai School master Wang Yiting since boyhood, Qiu Deshu not only learned the expression of traditional Chinese ink painting methods, but also learned picture mounting and pasting techniques. And dealing with rice paper for a long time enabled him to think about tearing rice paper while he observing cracks of a stone on ground during a walk. In 1982, enlightened by "cracks" on old slates, Qiu Deshu combined the heritage of traditional Chinese paintings with his own experiments of modern ink paintings to create very "avant-garde" "Fissuring" style works.The Chief Editor of “Art” magazine Shang Hui once commented his works: “Qiu Deshu is one of the representative modern Chinese ink painters after 1980. No matter from which perspective, Qiu Deshu has provided cases worthy of studying for the development of contemporary art, especially from the perspective of noumenal language. For example, the deviation of other modern Chinese ink paintings from traditional Chinese painting is represented by abandoning figurative expression without exception, but none of them leaves the four major elements including water, ink, paper and brush, while Qiu Deshu’s challenging nature is neither having “water” solvent, nor having water-mediated “Ink” or “color”, and even not using brush, only retaining one of ink painting materials, the “rice paper”.

The "Fissuring" featured in this auction is an outstanding work newly created by Qiu Deshu in 2013. On the Print, rocks demonstrate craggy pose, mountains cluster and surround around, facing the work, almost everyone is affected and shocked by that kind of tranquil but immensely powerful force originated from inside the work as if received in person, it makes you feel the insignificance of yourself and the greatness and eternity of universe. His "Fissuring" reveals a strong sense of crisis for times we live in. As Qiu Deshu said, fissuring is everywhere, it exists in the environment human beings survive and everyone's inner heart. "Through the ‘Fissuring’ I hope to express my worry about human beings and environment, and convey my calling of thinking crisis while living safely."

Price estimate:
HKD：400,000 - 600,000
USD：51,600 - 77,400

Auction Result:
HKD: 920,000