Pencil, acid-free paper, document

88 × 127 cm. 34 5/8 × 50 in. (artist); 41.9 × 25 cm. 16 1/2 × 9 7/8 in. (document)

PROVENANCE
Mind Set Arts Center, Taipei
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by an explanation document and a certificate of authenticity issued by Taipei Mind Set Arts Center and signed by the artist

Conguering Bravely in KO
Shi Jin-Hua's Penwalking Scenery

Shi Jin-Hua was born in Taiwan in 1964. After graduating from Taiwan Normal University, he went to the United States and obtained a master's degree in art from the University of California, Irvine. He is one of the few conceptual performance artists in Taiwan today. He suffered from diabetes since he was a child, and he monitored and recorded his physical condition and injected drugs day after day. The harsh living state made him embark on a pious and persistent artistic and religious-like journey. Shi is good at using the simplest material like pencil, and through the measurement and pen strokes during his walking, he personally emphasizes the viewpoints of “on the road” and “I Think, Therefore I am” to complete his minimalist and philosophical creations.

Understanding of Life in the Epidemic Time

When creating, Shi Jin-Hua laid a canvas on the wall and the ground, and while drawing with a pencil in hand, he also left footprints on the canvas on the ground. The original white canvas was gradually covered by the staggered pencil lines, showing his deep thoughts on life. Since 2014, Shi began to paint the “OK” letters repeatedly, completing a piece that has a sense of movement, speed, and gravity, and thus incorporated everyday vocabulary to record the “present”. At the moment of completion, he decided to create a sister work “KO”, presenting the different emotions induced by the reversed usage of the same element. In 2020, as the artist said, “After the epidemic began, I was finally able to face it again. On April 8, 2020, I completed Pen Walking #174.”

Pen Walking #174 takes the capital letters “K” and “O” as the main subject occupying the entire canvas. It is interesting that the texture of the two letters shows traces of brush scraps. At the bottom of the picture, there is a used red pencil lying quietly on the ground, echoing the scattered red pencil shavings, and embellishing the plain picture. It becomes a prominent and vivid touch in the black and white world before the audience. Tracing back to the aesthetic origins of this works, we can think of some clues in the popular art, such as the superficial, vain, and exaggerated expressions of images and symbols that often appear in the mass media. And when the word “KO” comes from the concept and performance art system such as the Pen Walking Series, the binding of words and behaviors shows the power and meaning of the word itself in art creation.

Price estimate:
HKD: 90,000 – 120,000
USD: 11,600 – 15,500

Auction Result:
HKD: 106,200