Acrylic on canvas

直徑 60 cm. 直徑 23 5/8 in.

Signed in English and dated,stamped with an artist's seal on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Important Private Collection, Asia

A Spirit in Every Being
He Juan's Whimsical World

He Juan was born in Qinghai and graduated from the Oil Painting Department at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2007. With the belief that every being has a spirit, He Juan loves to merge flora and fauna themes with self-imagination, building new fantasy world characters with a unique style through metamorphosis and anthropomorphism. Although He Juan studied oil painting, she has always had an interest in traditional Chinese gongbi paintings and often integrates the smooth and delicate brushwork of the gongbi technique into her works. The soft and wondrous colours in her works convey a feeling of timelessness, inviting the viewer into a warm, fairytale world. She received the Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artist Award and gained recognition from collectors when she participated in the Shanghai Art Fair and Art Basel Miami Beach.

While Zodiac Series――Dog 2 takes on the theme of the traditional Chinese zodiac, the work also gives the animal some human features. In the picture, the dog looks out of the painting with large eyes that are gentle and lovely. The artist used smooth strokes to outline the dog's form, then rendered it with soft tones of yellow and pink. These colours bring a sense of purity and brightness to the work which makes it aesthetically pleasing, but there are also rich details in the picture, such as the exquisite spiral pattern that decorates the dog's inner ear and some pearl-white glitters that fell on the top of its head. While the artist retained the essence of the gongbi technique, she has also infused a kind of three-dimensional texture to the painting utilising new materials, forming a distinctive artistic style. Below the dog's head, there seems to be a mysterious creature, which is a feature of He's works. The creature seems to be a mixture of multiple animals. It has the eyes of a panda and the lips and teeth of a rabbit. With rosy cheeks like a child, its head is covered by ferns and its lower body wearing two pieces of blue and pink fish scale, like a forest guardian in a fairytale. The continuous gongbi brushstrokes, the harmonious and elegant colours, as well as the protagonist from another world all showcase He's whimsical ideas and the rich connotations behind them.

Price estimate:
HKD: 22,000 - 32,000
USD: 2,800 - 4,100

Auction Result:
HKD: 26,400