Oil on canvas

120 × 90 cm. 47 1/4 × 35 3/8 in.

Signed and inscribed as "For: Louis Chow" in English, and dated on the top of the canvas edge on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Praz-Delavallade Gallery, Los Angeles
Acquired directly by present private Asian collector from the above

Tranquil Poetry of Memories
Guy Yanai's Blocks of Colour Landscapes

"I try to reclaim memories through painting."
——Guy Yanai

Bonsai, ships, seaside architecture... these are the distinctive elements in the creative vocabulary of Israeli artist Guy Yanai. Born in 1977 in Haifa, Israel, he moved to Boston with his family at a young age. In 1996, he pursued studies at Parsons School of Design, followed by a year of painting studies at the New York Studio School. Yanai earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, and returned to his hometown of Tel Aviv in the 2000s. His introspective nature, shaped by cultural encounters during his youth in the United States, led him to explore Boston streets on Google, also gazing at his homeland from afar. This habit continues to inspire his artwork. Yanai also delves into the works of contemporary art masters, drawing inspiration for his paintings characterized by flat brushstrokes and vibrant colours that depict places from his memories. Since 2008, he has exhibited in various locations, including New York, Berlin, London, and Los Angeles. In 2015, the authoritative art website Artnet listed him among the fifty most exciting artists in Europe, and in 2020, he designed towels for the Spring release of luxury brand Hermès. His works are collected by numerous private and public institutions globally, including Israeli tycoon and renowned collector Jose Mugrabi, the Haifa Museum of Art, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation in New York, and Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art in Rizhao, Shangdong Province.

The Coloured Romance of the White City

"I live really close to the sea, and even if you don't go to it, the sea is always present. You smell it. You only need to cross one street for Tel Aviv to become like a beach town."
—— Guy Yanai

Painting with House, Boat and Beach is a classic Tel Aviv seaside landscape by Yanai. The composition consists of varied-length and directional striped brushstrokes, as the artist uses palette knives and brushes to fluidly outline rectangular blocks of colour. The flat representation depicts the sea, beach, and sky, from the foreground of the ocean and warm sand to the middle section with white bricks and gray tiles, extending to the background of azure sky and white clouds. It eloquently narrates the leisurely and comfortable seaside daily life under the warm sunlight. A single canoe, primarily in blue and white, freely drifts like a crescent moon, dispersed and meandering. The reflection of houses is gracefully spread on the sea surface, and the stacked pinkish square blocks on the water surface pay homage to the American colour master Josef Albers. Although the artwork does not depict figures, each element in the painting tells the story of the tranquil life in this seaside town. The buildings in the painting reflect the lively and free spirit of Tel Aviv, even after experiencing wars and terrorist attacks. Bathed in the bright Mediterranean sunlight, they carry the artist's memories of the past and present of his hometown, a quiet and cherished poetic chapter in his nomadic life. As Vladimir Nabokov once stated in his autobiography Speak, Memory, "Only through memory that we possess the past." Yanai, with his brush, writes a serene and deeply cherished life poem after a wandering half-life, allowing each wanderer to find their own path in the quietness of his paintings.

Price estimate:
HKD: 80,000 – 120,000
USD: 10,200 - 15,300

Auction Result:
HKD: 132,000