Enamel and broken glass on canvas

122×177 cm. 48×69 5/8 in

Signed in Chinese and dated on bottom right

LITERATURE
2012, Chuang Che： Holistic View and Microscopic Vision, Asia Art Center, Taipei, p.53
EXHIBITED
13 Nov 2008, Performance of Palazzo Ducale, Villa Croce Museum, Genoa, Italy
13 Nov 2008 – 8 Mar 2009, Shozo Shimamoto —— Samurai, Acrobat of the Sight, Villa Croce Museum, Genoa, Italy

PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia
This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Shozo Shimamoto Association.

The Stone Garden of Mogu Painting
The Song Dynasty Elegance Seen through Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting
Born in 1974 in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, Peng Wei excels in fusing traditional themes with personal context as well as presenting her outstanding point of view through multi-level images.
Capturing the Spirit of Tang and Song Literati Painting
Peng Wei’s paintings usually feature mogu and pomo ink application techniques. The term Mogu （没骨） means “boneless” and refers to abandoning the ink outlines for images in favor of skipping the entire preparatory step, applying color directly, a style that artists such as Xu Xi from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period （907-960 C.E.）, Yun Nantian and Zhao Zhiqian from the Qing Dynasty （1636-1912 C.E.）, and Wu Changshuo and Qi Baishi from the time of the Republic of China （1912-1949 C.E.） commonly employed. Pomo （破墨）, which means “broken ink”, was developed during the Tang Dynasty （618-907 C.E.） by Wang Wei （王維） and Zhang Zhao （張璪） and refers to the application of water of a different colour n top of another before it dries. An infinite diverse range of visual outcome can be achieved depends on meticulous adjustment of timing, angles and amount of pigment used. Over time, Peng Wei has come to mastering the use of water on paint and ink and has created the perfect fusion of clarity and blurring. It therefore comes as no surprise that her works are characterized by the same elegance and harmony of color as ancient paintings, while still also containing a lack of vulgarity, a variety of shades and hues, and an abundance of humanistic sentiment.
Chinese literati held the pursuit of cultivating one’s spirit in very high esteem, and this is clearly expressed in many ancient pieces of Chinese literature, such as The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons （文心雕龍）. Literati artists of the Song Dynasty therefore used only one color to paint trees, rocks, bamboo, and thatched cottages, and this was done to steer them in the right direction of such spiritual self-improvement. Peng Wei’s paintings of rocks show not only her unique prowess in practicing mogu and pomo, but also her masterful use of empty spaces, allowing the viewer to reach a state of tranquility and enlightenment, something pursued by literati since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. A classic example of such work is Stone Garden No. 2, the object of this auction.
A Hint of Tang Style
Painted in 2012, Stone Garden No. 2 features characters written in Chinese regular script. The text was copied from Inscription about the Sweet Spring Water of Jiuchenggong Palace （九成宮醴泉銘）, which was composed by the famous government official Wei Zheng （魏征） and written by calligrapher Ouyang Xun （歐陽詢） during the Tang Dynasty. Many consider the famous piece of writing to be one of the world’s best such works, if not the very best.
Having always been very fond of regular script, Peng Wei borrowed characters from the inscription to show her respect to Wei Zheng’s sense of justice and her admiration of the uprightness and precision of the script itself, thereby alluding to the true spirit of honorable men. The inscription describes a discovery of a water spring, which is reminiscent of the book Zhuangzi （莊子）, in which there is a comparison between the friendship of an honorable man to insipid yet clear water that runs to eternity and always be remembered, or Songs of Chu （楚辭）, where Qu Yuan stressed he would maintain the purity of his heart no matter how wicked the world might have been. Through her painting, Peng Wei wants to imply that these principles are also applicable in the modern world.
The Elegance of Southern Song
Inspired by the Southern and Northern Song Dynasties, in Stone Garden No. 2, Peng Wei pursues the artistic conception of integrating nature and artificial beauty. She prefers a vigorous, monumental style while painting rocks, and in terms of compositional arrangement, the artist has eliminated all flowers, birds, insects, bamboo, thatched cottages, and other elements commonly seen in traditional Chinese ink paintings, only painting the rocks that have been left behind, with there being a surrounding of dots and blocks of empty spaces that create a feeling of depth and expanse. These empty spaces resemble a silent brook changed from a burbling dragon-shaped waterfall far away, and this may allow viewers to behold the eternity of the universe and the ephemeral life of human beings. The triptych additionally divides the picture into three paradises, and this creates the illusion that beneath the blank areas, there may well be beautiful valleys filled with birds and flowers. This dream-like, fantastic space seems just one step away from the scenery described by Yang Wanli in The Little Pool：
The little pool
Languidly trickling
from springs’ silent lips, Water reflecting
the breeze and the trees
Lotuses sprouting
their buds for the bees, Dragonflies perching
themselves on the tips.

Price estimate:
HKD: 650, 000 - 850, 000
USD: 83, 300 - 109, 000

Auction Result:
HKD: 767,000