Painted porcelain sculpture

73 × 57 × 20 cm. 28 3/4 × 22 1/2 × 7 7/8 in.

EXHIBITED
19 May - 30 Jun 2018, Unidentified Mysterious Animal, Yesart Gallery, Taipei
14 Dec 2018 - 27 Jan 2019, A-Lei Solo Exhibition, Yingge Ceramic Museum, New Taipei City

PROVENANCE
Yesart Gallery, Taipei
Private Collection, Asia

Affectionate Magical Professor
A-Lei's Shy Monster

A-Lei (Yeh Hsin-Hong) graduated from the Chinese Painting Department, National Taiwan University of Arts in 1998. Starting from 2000, he stopped plane art and began to experiment with a stereoscopic sculpture made by clay, creating monster figures which are distinctive in appearance and rich in “vitality and warmth”. While he was writing his version of modern Shan Hai Jing, he was invited to hold a solo exhibition by the Fubon Art Foundation in 2015, which received favourable feedback from private enterprise collectors. In 2020's ARTAIPEI, all of his 20 exhibits were sold out instantly on the first day, with JJ Lin, a famous singer, as one of his collectors. His stacking-up brushwork was translated from the technique of Chinese painting, illustrating the vigour of the chunky and solid monster. This artwork, Magician Professor, is one of his selected works.

The figure is kneaded to have a round head, a pair of flat eyes, rectangular ears and a mouse. Its seemingly clownish but confident expression is fun to look at. With one hand open and another hand holding a baton, it represents a teacher during the lesson, which is contradicting to the traditional serious image. The Magician Professor is wearing a modern-style one-piece uniform and short boots, with a beret hat on its head. The piling texture of ceramic glaze is inspired during the artist's calligraphy training. He said: “I will glaze the clay using the technique of ink painting. Sometimes scrap by sponge or knife, as if I am painting on a three-dimensional canvas. Sometimes I will paint two colours of glaze and scrub the topper layer to make it transparent, then a more interesting colour will emerge.” Combining ink painting and ceramics, A-Lei's steady character and stereoscopic vivacity demonstrate the warmth and depth of life.

Price estimate:
HKD: 35,000 – 55,000
USD: 4,500 – 7,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 59,000