Oil and acrylic on canvas

45.5 × 53 cm. 17 7/8 × 20 7/8 in.

Signed in English and dated on bottom right; Dated, signed and titled in Japanese on the stretch
PROVENANCE
Whitestone Gallery, Tokyo
Acquired directly by present private important Asian collector from the above

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Whitestone Gallery, Tokyo

Praise the Nature of the World with an Innocent Heart
Sadamasa Motonaga's Wonderful Works From the 1990s

In 1966, as an important member of the Gutai school, Sadamasa Motonaga, who had already been in the top tier of the Japanese art circle, went to New York to participate in a one-year artist residency program. During this year, he mastered the techniques of airbrush painting and spray painting, innovating his artistic vocabulary. However, his works after 1966, with hard-edged geometric abstract icons and full and bright colours, have established his reputation in the art world and become one of the most important Japanese artists. Some of the grotesque shapes in the paintings are full of childishness and joy, and the transforming shapes are even more fascinating. His works have been collected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In the 1990s, Motonaga began to create children's picture books. The 1991 White Form on Green was one such work influenced by this style.

On the vibrant green screen, the semicircle and the shape of the mountain are filled with light and dark green respectively, and colorful irregular color blocks are connected below, which is reminiscent of raindrops falling from clouds, or the deeply connected relationship of the geological ecology. It shows the artist's discussion on instability and concreteness, intuition and control, and philosophy of life. The irregular white-grey and yellow-shaped bodies above the mountains, like a stroke from another world, challenge the stillness of the painting with a sense of floating. And this dynamic is the element that runs through Motonaga's early works including performance, installation and graphic painting. Just like the artist himself said: “I consciously use this method to entrust my work to the forces of nature.” The semicircular “umbrella”, the “cloud” that stretches like a mountain, is between nature and “capturing nature”, calling the viewer's original intention in a way like lifting the weight lightly. He has merged the mystery of nature with the innocent heart and eyes here.

Price estimate:
HKD: 120,000 – 200,000
USD: 15,500 – 25,800

Auction Result:
HKD: 141,600