Oil on canvas

195×130 cm. 76 3/4×51 1/8 in

Incised with two artist’s
signatures, dated and numbered
underneath each sculpture

LITERATURE
2010, KAWS, Skira Rizzoli Publishing House, New York, p.234-235
（another edition）
2014, This is not a Toy, Design Exchange, Toronto, p.131 （another edition）
PROVENANCE
Galerie Heyram, Paris
Important Private Collection, Europe
2 Apr 2012, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Spring Auction, Lot 540
Important Private Collection, Asia
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Archives Zao Wou-Ki, and will be included in the artist’s forthcoming catalogue raisonné prepared by Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen （Information provided by Foundation Zao Wou-Ki）.

A Magnificent Glimpse of Paradise 
Zao Wou-ki’s 25.06.86

“In the morning when I return to the studio, even if that day is gloomy, the unfinished paintings on the floor always fill me with renewed energy and made me pick up a brush. If the pigments on the canvas are already dry I once again get to create all manner of reality and fantasy, empty spaces and overflowing scenes. In the time I have left I would like to declare, here and now, the unremitting joy that painting has always given me ... I am not afraid of growing old or dying, I just want enough time to finish my painting and for it to be bolder and freer than the last one.”
——Zao Wou-ki

The words written by Zao in 1993 at the age of 72, are a window into the mind of a man who dedicated his entire life and passion to the creation of art.
Of all the Chinese artists who have studied overseas since the twentieth century, Zao Wou-ki was the first to achieve major success and one of the first to be welcomed into the Western art world with open arms. From 1957, Zao was represented by Galerie de France in Paris and the Kootz Gallery in New York, two of the most influential art galleries in the US and Europe at that time. They were also key promoters of abstract expressionism in post-war Europe and the US, and represented only top tier artists such as Hans Hartung, Jackson Pollock etc. As a result of their tireless promotional work, by the late 1960s Zao’s works were attracting the attention of art critics and being collected by museums and private collectors internationally. Today, 138 national art institutions around the world have paintings by Zao in their collection, including some of the best known museums in the East and West -- Musee du Louvre, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, the Tate Modern, Fukuoka Art Museum in Japan and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. With such an illustrious background, Zao figures prominently in any history of Asia modern art. Moreover, this year the Musée National d’Art Moderne （National Museum of Modern Art） in Paris is holding a Zao Wou-ki retrospective, underscoring the fact that even though Zao passed away in 2013, his impact on the world of art continues to these days.
Even at the End of the Road There is Always Hope
Since ancient times, great artists whether Chinese or foreign, have pursued a path of constant self transcendence and Zao Wou-ki is no exception. Indeed, his approach to painting underwent several major changes. For example, in the early 1950s his works were semi-representational, but in 1954 Zao entered his oracle bones script period and by 1958 his paintings were completely abstract, displaying the world he experienced through colors and lines. After the mystical depths of gloom that informed the oracle bones period came the intense majesty and weightiness of works in the early 1960s, but after Zao’s wife died in the early 1970s, his understanding of life was elevated and he wandered into the void. Ultimately, that experience guided him back to nature and Eastern philosophy as he followed his natural inclinations. However, Zao sought to transcend or go beyond his achievements in painting and his boldness in seeking to go further and great disruptiveness paved the way for a generation of artists, while garnering him international prestige. In the 1980s, it could be said that Zao reached the pinnacle of his creative work and artistic achievements. After 30 years of dedicating his life to the exploration of painting he once said：“I’m more matured, all the accumulated effort over the years had an effect on my painting and everything became much easier.” Indeed, in this period, he was able to paint whatever he wanted as technical issues were no longer an obstacle.
It was also at this time that the art world chose to recognize Zao’s artistic achievements. In 1981, he was invited to hold a solo exhibition at the Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais and the artist himself said it was the “first time” he exhibited at an “official venue.” The Grand Palais is one of the top museums in France and this exhibition demonstrated the degree to which Zao Wou-ki was embraced by the French art world. Moreover, the “French International Exchange Association” viewed the artist as a spiritual bridge between Eastern and Western art-culture, after the Grand Palais exhibition designated the event, a key figure of national cultural diplomacy that year. From 1981-1982, the exhibition toured the world and was shown at five Japanese art museums, Hong Kong Arts Centre and the National Gallery Singapore. In just two years, Zao Wou-ki became known throughout Asia and in 1985 he was officially invited by the government of China to return to Hangzhou Academy of Art to take up a teaching position, an indication of his lofty status in the world of art. The painting 25.06.86 was completed in 1986, at a time when Zao’s life and international reputation were at zenith. The work not only showcases the artist’s creative success and freedom, it also reflects the vast sweep and laid back nature of his emotional world as well as his ultimate aesthetic outlook.
Wonderful Panorama, Where East Meets West
On arriving in France, Zao Wou-ki abandoned ink art in an effort to avoid being pigeonholed by the outside world’s stereotypical view of Eastern artists or limited by the confines of traditional ink art. Instead he chose to paint using only Western materials and sought to forge his own way in the art world. In 1971, Zao’s second wife, Chan May Kam, fell ill and died one year later. This had a major emotional impact on the artist, for 18 months he was unable to paint. Zao recovered from those dark days and the pain of losing a loved one with the help of Chinese ink painting. In order to dispel the anxieties and obstacles that plagued him, Zao Wou-ki rediscovered the snow-white xuan paper and ink of his childhood and by dipping his brush in the ink and water refound his love of painting. In this context, the ink was like duckweed to which his dying spirit clung, enabling him to pull himself upwards and back onto the path of artistic creation. Even more notable, from this point on the Millennia of Eastern aesthetics that imbued Chinese ink art had a profound and lasting influence on Zao’soil paintings. Indeed, he “embraced Eastern methods to pursue life expression.” In the large vertical painting 25.06.86 Zao Wou-ki presents a bright blue and purple color motif which he boldly allows to take up nearly two thirds of the space. In addition, he adds a great deal of turpentine so the thick and heavy Western oil colors are lighter and flow more. Through layers of color, daubing and splashing Zao showcases a panoramic view and within that vast expanse of color the transparent grape-purple follows the flexible, vital black ink lines up from the floor, intersecting with royal blue, indigo and black to explode in the image of a mountain wall, its transmuted layers rising upwards, vast and towering, like steel shrouded in softness. As poet Henri Michaux wrote：“The component parts of abstraction expand, with splashes and drops, essence, precipitation, transcending shaped lines, clinging to the ground like soft silk, which when reached is always possessed of an unspeakable charm that is absolutely not Western.” Zao Wou-ki takes the “five gradations of ink color” in traditional Chinese calligraphy and painting and through the addition of Western oil colors seeks to reinterpret this and create something new, his landmark artistic language showcasing the brilliance achieved when the essence of Eastern and Western art are combined. Zao’s expressive method and his path of choice showcase an artistic form and realm that could not possibly come from a Western artist and also earned him a reputation for excellence.
Exploring Virtual White and Reflections of Daoist Thought：Creating Dreamlike Scenes
Seen from a distance, the central focus of 25.06.86 is the right of the painting. Zao deliberately leaves a predominantly white space, which in conjunction with the thick colors on both the left and right, showcases the dramatic sparks between reality and virtuality. He also attempts to depict a scene reminiscent of hazy rain and mist in the Chinese ink painting ouvre. Zao once said：“It is far easier to express reality than virtuality on the canvas, the white in Chinese ink painting is virtual white, it can express nothing and still create in the viewer boundless imaginings about space, but in an oil painting one cannot really leave a white space, because the white in an oil painting requires far more time to deal with.” In contrast, viewed up close viewers discover that through the use of different directional strokes, the white space in the painting is made up of hues of white that differ in brightness as well as light blue, goose yellow, bronze green and violet. In addition, this multilayered texture and rhythm of depth, create hazy indistinct depictions and dimly discernible scenes from distance, which could be viewed as representations of traditional Chinese Daoist philosophy, as the viewer sits there with humble heart, calmed in meditation, surrounded by nature and the Eastern view of the cosmos. As National Art Museum of China Director Xu Jiang has said：“Zao Wou-ki understands ’The Way’expressed in the phrase：’In the obscurity and haziness, there seems to be some image remaining there：in the obscurity and haziness, there seems to be some object remaining there.’He takes the mist and rain and makes it an indeterminate entity, real mountain gullies and makes a dream come to reality. Indeed, it could be said that this back and forth between reality and virtuality make Zao’s art some of the most poetic works in the Western abstract expressionist genre. As such, the combination of eastern images and Western abstraction in the paintings of Zao Wou-ki present an epochal spiritual elevation.” This observation fleshes out Zao’s extraordinary artistic achievement.
An Unfolding World：Three Stream Vertical Composition
“Viewing the works of the Fauvist School was such a shock and an education when I saw how they used only color to create space.”
—— Zao Wou-ki
In 1986, Zao Wou-ki produced his first vertical three-stream painting. However, this is a compositional format he only adopted in three paintings：Hommage à Matisse I-02.02.86, the auctioned work 25.06.86 and Hommage à Matisse II-21.05.93. This approach was inspired by Matisse’s French Window at Collioure which on seeing for the first time left Zao feeling surprised, commenting that the work：“Presents a door in which coexists strength and emptiness, stood in front of it one finds life, dust and the air we breathe. The question is what happens behind it？ There is a large pitch-black space, like a door that opens onto an art exhibition.” It was this work Zao had in mind when he adopted the same style in his homage to Matisse in February 1986, followed by 25.06.86 painted in June of the same year. Although both pieces are three-stream compositions, in the second the artist uses white rather than the gloomy black of the former. He also adds unrestrained sentiment and emotions that appear at one with heaven and earth. It has been suggested that the scene is reminiscent of The Peach Blossom Spring by Jin Dynasty writer Tao Yuanming, in which he writes：“In the time of Jin Taizhong, a man from Wuling, who was a fisherman by trade, was traveling along the edge of a creek, and forgot the distance of the route； he suddenly chanced upon a peach blossom forest； keeping by the shore he moved a hundred paces； inside there were no other trees, and the fragrant grasses were fresh and beautiful； the fallen leaves were a mix of colors, and the fisherman found it strange. He continued onwards, wanting to find the end of this forest. At the end of the forest and the creek, he reached a mountain. There was a small opening in the mountain, and it seemed like there was light, so he abandoned his boat and went in. At first it was extremely narrow, just enough to allow a person to pass. After several dozen more paces, it suddenly opened up.” This sentiment is reflected in 25.06.86.
In 1982, when Zhang Daqian moved to Taipei he painted the splashed-color masterpiece Peach Blossom Spring as a depiction of paradise. Despite their age difference, Zao Wou-ki and Zhang were friends and had met on numerous occasions in Paris. In 1983, Zao held a solo exhibition at the National Museum of History in Taipei and attended the official opening. He then spent time in the city and visited Zhang at his home. It is highly likely that he appreciated Zhang’s Peach Blossom Spring at this time. In the mid-1950s, Zhang derived his brushwork from thin to thick and in the early 1960s his ink-splash works evolved into splashed-color. It is possible that it inspired Zao’s creative development from representational to abstract painting or that the two artists communicated, particularly as both men were courageously prepared to break with ego in pursuit of a higher artistic plane. If we compare Zhang’s Peach Blossom Spring painted in his later years and Zao Wou-ki’s 25.06.86 then although the former is a Chinese-style ink and color painting and the latter a Western oil painting, there is an intriguing dialogue between the two in terms of composition and color. Both reexamine tradition and were the innova tive in their own distinctive style. Their works are like an open door, showcasing the wisdom of the artists and the rich beauty they hare experienced in a life of travels and travails. Audience are invited to stand quietly in front of the painting and take in the wondrous detail of this artistic world.

Price estimate:
HKD: 34, 000, 000 - 56, 000, 000
USD: 4, 359, 000 - 7, 180, 000

Auction Result:
HKD: 43,870,000