Acrylic on canvas

33 × 24cm. × 3 13 × 9 1/2 in. × 3

Marked on each left edge, and signed in English on each right edge
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

The Novelist Who Tells Stories with Illustration
Zhang Teng-Yuan's Travels in Time and Space and His Imaginations of Doomsday

Chang Teng-Yuan represents the group of young artists who recently actively engaged in the Asian art scene. He was selected as the Contemporary Art News Magazine's “Future Star” in 2020. His works in solo exhibitions at the Art Taipei, J.P Art Centre, and Articks of Hong Kong in 2021 were sold out, receiving great public responses.

Chang Teng-Yuan has been a science fiction reader and toy collector since he was a child. He is an illustrator who conveys fictional narratives in his work. He is a novelist who manifests plots through images. Through his creations, he constructs a cosmology of parallel worlds. The Parrot-Man is a recurring character in his artwork, constructed of a parrot head, a human body, and a scholarly bearing from an alternate world. The Parrot-Man reveals the alternate worlds in Chang's paintings, leading its onlooker on an adventure into the borders of the fictional space.

Following Trends and Keeping Close Tabs on Current Events, He Constructs Virtuality within the Margins of Reality

Chang's work is based on real events happening in the world today. In his narrative, the first batch of Parrot-Men landing on earth have the identities of archaeologists, biologists, etc. They have come to earth with the “mission” of investigating human civilization before doomsday. Combination - Maybe a Mouse （Set of three pieces）（Lot 26）is an example of this “mission”. In this set of three pieces, each work is with differnent background colours while sharing similar compositions. The Parrot-Man in the lab coat and the green overalls holds an unknown object. He stands in the same posture in all three pieces. At a closer look, the object resembles the well-known cartoon character – Mickey Mouse. The Parrot-Man dismantles the object, emanating a sense of dark humour in his action. The work is a reflection on the phenomenon of cultural colonization. The technique of satire is adopted from the Father of Pop Art Andy Warhol. The message behind the satire is reinforced through repetition. While the three pieces are almost identical in form and structure, Chang has personally painted all three pieces by hand, showing the high degree of brush control and dexterity in his work.

In Parallel World Jewel - The Day the Meteor Falls（Lot 27）, he deliberately cut the canvas into a gem-like irregular shape. Every facet of the irregular shape is painted. The side facing the viewer the largest in scale, and a Parrot-Man is featured standing between the mountains and seas as he observes the events happening on doomsday. He catches an extra-large meteor in his hand. On the side above the frontal side, an explosion is depicted through a mushroom cloud. On the left side, a massive hand is illustrated, covering most of the painting. On the right side, a Parrot-Man holds a map, preparing to explore the lands. The paintings are a sequence of events and align with the concept in the Italian novelist Italo Calvino's book Cosmicomics. There is a different story in each parallel world illustrated on respective sides, but the separate narratives are not mutually exclusive. The narratives are interconnected to create a grand narrative that overarches the entire painting. The narrative proposed in the painting stimulates the imagination of its viewer, allowing one to experience different alternate worlds all at once, as if one is looking into a kaleidoscope.

Price estimate:
HKD: 12,000 - 25,000
USD: 1,500 - 3,200

Auction Result:
HKD: 18,000