Oil on canvas

142 x 108 cm. 55 7/8 x 42 1/2 in.

Signed in Chinese and in Pinyin “Li Shan”,inscribed and dated “1994” in Chinese on the reverse
Provenance：Private Collection,Singapore.

Li Shan
Rogue is a cultural phenomenon,a motivation,a silver lining. It is superficial,yet has the power of “rogue” away everything that is serious.
－Li Shan
Li Shan is one of the earliest icons of avant-garde contemporary artists in China. He started contemporary art creation in the late 1970s,and was a pioneer in several art movements,including the “1985 New Wave avant-garde Movement” and the 1989 China/Avant-garde exhibition. His advocacy of blending pop,installation art and performance art was influential in the 1985 New Wave Art Movement. After the forced closure of the exhibition,Li started his first exploration of the Rogue series in Shanghai. “In my studio,I reflected on the whole creating process of contemporary art,such as our vocabulary,format and approaches - all of them were from the west. We must find our own language...” This provided a solid basis for his future artistic direction.
Li’s Rogue series started in 1989,and continued until mid-1990s. The complete series was featured in the China’s New Art,Post-1989 exhibition in 1993 in Hong Kong. In the same year at the Venice Biennale,Matthew Barney’s Loughton Candidate gave Li a big shock,leading him to start his studies in biology and the creation of the Reading series. Nevertheless,the Rogue series is the most representative and internationally renowned among Li’s works.
The earlier works in the Rogue Mao series embodies “politically pop symbols - Mona Lisa,a young Mao Zedong with a flower in his mouth,smiling and waving,or a sorrowful Mao at an older age. Afterwards,from the Rogue series emerged the interesting subject of the goose. “Geese are lazy,and the lotus flower is tacky. I feel that both symbols match the theme of Rogue perfectly”,he once said. The artwork presented this time,Rogue Series：Yellow Goose,was created in 1994 as the earliest piece with a “yellow goose” in the series. The yellow goose is special in the Rogue series：Li borrowed a surrealism approach and presented the subject in an anthropomorphic way while rationalizing the animal,which was clearly influenced by avant-garde artists including Matthew Barney. This artwork features a pure blue background,and the goose is outlined with smooth,delicate lines. The artist has purposefully omitted the details of the goose’s beak,face,legs,hidden wings and the texture of feathers. The goose holds a flower in its mouth,its neck slender yet its palms round and short,achieving a comical effect. This shape of the goose was Li’s earliest design,as his collage works are basically presented in this form with different colours. Apart from being the “symbol lazy”,the goose is also the transformed subject of Mao with a flower in his mouth - the large goose as well as the bright yellow colour on a blue background have given the artwork a symbolic meaning,and one can sense the satire within. However,Li has used a humorous,even metaphysical approach,so that instead of sharpness,the artwork conveys a humorous yet mysterious,symbolic meaning.

Price estimate:
HKD：800,000 - 1,000,000
USD：103,200 - 129,000

Auction Result:
HKD:1,711,000