Acrylic on canvas

50 x 75 cm. 19 5/8 x 29 1/2 in.

Signed in Chinese and English, dated and titled in English on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a photo of the painting signed by the artist in 2008

An Origin Explorer
The Grand Art World of Hsiao Chin

“I think as I paint, and this helps take my ego to a whole new level.”
——by Hsiao Chin

Hsiao Chin founded Ton-Fan Art Group and initiated the Punto Movement, promoting the post-war synthesis of Eastern and Western art. In 1951, he started learning painting from Li Zhongsheng and co-founded Ton-Fan with his classmates. He left for Europe for further studies in 1956 with the financial support from the Spanish government and launched the Punto Movement in 1961, always standing at the frontier of art. In 2005, he was awarded the honorable title of “Knight of Italian Solidarity Star” by the Italian President. In 2019, Musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet and China Art Museum featured his solo exhibitions. His artworks are also in the collection of over 40 leading art institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya and China Art Museum.

Hsiao sees art creation as a lifelong undertaking. He shot to fame among his Western peers as early as the 1990s and has grown mellower with the abrupt ups and down of life. Over the decade, he finished the series Beyond the Great Threshold and To the Eternal Garden, which won him the First Prize of the XXI Premio Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea in 1993. He returned home in 1996 and reached another height of his career with the creation of the series Birth of the New World, which presents the universe as an all-encompassing force. The spring auction offers Beyond the Great Threshold 67 (Lot 574) and Upmost Sun (Lot 575), which are two iconic pieces in his later years that explore the cosmos and seek inner peace. The latter, as an extension of the Birth of the New World, strikes the viewer with its large size and the artist's sublimely unique interpretation of life.

A Masterpiece on the Cosmos

Finished in 1997, Upmost Sun is the third largest cloth painting of the artist ever in auction in terms of size. The artist by then had escalated to the ontological exploration of the cosmos on top of his depiction of physical matters. The 3-meter painting goes with the Taoist philosophy that “ultimate polarity generates two modes (i.e. yin and yang), and the two modes generate four seasons.” The huge red dot at the center and the surrounding four curves form a delicate equilibrium. The square strokes follow the style of the clerical script in Chinese calligraphy, encircling the dot as if it were a rising run. The complementarity between the stroke quartet and the circle seems to have opened up a tunnel to the origin of life and may remind the viewer of how Joan Miro presented his conjecture on beginning of the world.

If the viewer takes a closer look, the red dot actually contains an underlying pattern of crocodile skin, which looks like a dazzling array of atoms with unimaginable momentum. The immense dot made of little red flakes alludes to the incremental process of strength build-up. The artist also used the spraying technique to produce the “dust” scattered on the periphery, implying that all living beings in the universe, big or small, harbor massive vitality.

Such creative composition made its debut in Birth of the New World II that was created in 1996. The giant dot and the four encircling lines symbolize the never-ending advance of the cosmos. There are only four other paintings in the artist's portfolio in similar style, and among them Upmost Sun has the largest width, reaching 2.86 meters. It exhibits the sharpest color contrast and out-of-proportion composition. The sun at the center takes up a whopping share of the cloth to the extent that it enlivens the surrounding strokes and tiny spots. As the painting was finished by the artist in his 62 years old, it bears demonstrable value and marks an important milestone of the artist's painting technique and creation philosophy.

Imagination in Free Rein

Beyond the Great Threshold 67 was finished in 1993. The painting, which demonstrates more avant-garde aesthetics, marks the closure of his severe, long-lasting grief after his daughter's unexpected death in 1990. The parallel of vertical strokes in blue and purple spreads across the canvas like a gently gurgling river. The red splatter at the bottom breaks into the scene horizontally, marking off an exclusive turf for the artist's spirit. The chemistry between the two dimensions creates two relatively independent yet subtly interconnected realms.

Hsiao draws inspiration from the matters in the vast expanse of the cosmos and aligns his creation with his inner senses, building a secluded world in which he gives his imagination and creativity free rein.

Price estimate:
HKD: 80,000 – 120,000
USD: 10,300 – 15,500

Auction Result:
HKD: 118,000