Oil on canvas

200×150 cm. 78 3/4×59 in.

Signed in Pinyin and dated on bottom right
EXHIBITED
6 Dec 2014 – 4 Jan 2015, Private Expressions—Secret Fable, Art Edition, Chengdu

PROVENANCE
Art Edition, Chengdu
Private Collection, Asia

A Contemporary Myth of Dream and Glory
Zhao Yang's Goddess of Victory

Born in the 1970s, Zhao Yang graduated from China Academy of Art in 1995. He spent his childhood in Northeastern China, where he grew up loving myths, legends, and historical stories with theatricality. After graduation, the road to achieving his dream was rough: he worked at a children's publishing house for 15 years before becoming an independent artist; he was almost 40. At the beginning of his career, he moved from a stable and comfortable life in the south to Beijing, where he felt the dilemma of living on the edge of the city.

The collision between imaginary ideals and reality made Zhao Yang prone to wander between the two. For him, clear expression is unacceptable, so he breaks away from conventions and norms and accentuates the contrast between painting and reality. Characterized by strong surreal and expressionist qualities, his works gained him support from art lovers worldwide. His works have been widely exhibited in China and abroad, and are in the collections of Centre Pompidou in Paris and the K11 Art Museum in Shanghai, among other major organizations.

An Immortal Miracle in the Morning Mist

Dreamy grey, blue and pink colours are the signature features of Zhao Yang's work. In Honour Replaces Dreams, he paints a silhouette that resembles the ancient Greek goddess of victory. As one of the Louvre's greatest treasures, the Winged Victory of Samothrace shows the goddess landing on a war ship with resilience. Yet, Zhao Yang adds delicate warmth to his painting. The artist paints the goddess in shades of pink, her wings of protection, wavy curls, lowered head, and slightly outstretched arms. It is as if there is a robed figure resting on the goddess's lap beneath her. The figure is lonesome and frail, like a wounded beast, a pious martyr. At this moment, the goddess of victory no longer sings for war but carefully cares for the wounded. Her gentle arms acknowledge the bewilderment felt by human beings, as individuals, under the waves of time, symbolising compassion and divine love. Behind the two of them, who have become one, a greenish-blue background covers the picture with a layer of mist, like the morning fog, fixing this moment as if it were a miracle.

What is dream and what is glory? Zhao Yang's silhouette-like painting style blurs individual characteristics, leaving space for the view's interpretation. The overlapping of mythological and realistic imageries transcends the boundaries of specific times and spaces, traversing the thick curtain of history through fantasy and harmony.

Price estimate:
HKD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 15,400 – 23,100

Auction Result:
HKD: -