Acrylic on canvas

153×203.5 cm. 60 1/4×80 1/8 in.

Signed and titled in English, and dated on the reverse
PROVENANCE
J. P. Art Center, Kaohsiung
Important Private Collection, Asia

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Kaohsiung J. P. Art Center and signed by the artist

Soaring and Travelling in the Sky and the Earth
Yang Chihung's Abstract Scenes of Unbridled Freedom

Yang Chihung has been phrased as "one of the most important contemporary artists in both the East and the West" by Professor Kunio Motoe of Tama Art University, who is a curator of the most famous artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. He is an artist who straddles the line between tradition and modernity and also enjoys a very high reputation in the art world. He was the first Chinese artist to exhibit at P.S.1 in New York and was awarded the Outstanding Asian American Artist Award by the Governor of New York in 1989. His works have been collected by the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in the United States, the City University of New York, the National Art Museum of Singapore, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the Central Plaza in Hong Kong, the Guangdong Museum of Fine Arts, and many other organisations.

In the millennium, Yang Chihung got into his 70s, his perception of life and the depth of his creativity have increased, and he has gone into pure abstraction. This was particularly reflected in the period of "Eastern Poetry" that began in 2011, in which he used soulful lines, thick oils, and strong colours to shape images of the mind, regarded as the peak of his creativity. His works from this period are highly sought after, and have not only been invited to be exhibited at the Ueno no Mori Museum of Art in Tokyo in 2015 and the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2019, but also six of the top ten works in his auction record are from this period. Flying Cloud, presented in this auction, is one of the most outstanding works of the period. Unlike most of the works of the period, which are often in black tones, this work is full of gorgeous colours, reflecting the artist's optimistic and open-minded attitude towards life despite the vicissitudes of life.

Wide-ranging Poetry of Magnificent Clouds and Haze

In 2016, at 70, Yang moved his studio from Guandu to the banks of the Tamsui River, where he could see the magnificent Mount Guanyin and the river from his window, which inspired him to create. In Flying Cloud, the wave-like brushstrokes depict the flourishing and changing clouds, like a dragon travelling in the sky. The white and black lines form a surging and lingering symphony, reverberating in the blue sky as if leading one into a vast wonderland. In the second half of the picture, the momentum becomes as strong as blades, and the huge black strokes with movement collide violently, like a mighty wave leaping powerfully, or like the precipitous ridge of Mount Guanyin, which is extremely wonderful. In the background, intoxicating blue and orange organically blend, changing sometimes bright, sometimes deep tones, just like the magnificent sun that lights up the sky in nature, constantly waving its colours between the sky and the earth in the rising of the fish-belly white, changing in a thousand different ways in an instant, illuminating every corner of the mind in a multitude of colours.

Having travelled throughout North America, East Asia and Europe all his life, Yang Chihung has a free and uninhibited colour of life. He focuses on transforming his own life experience into the subtle vocabulary of abstract painting, conveying strong visual tension with rich layers and bold strokes that shock the mind!

Price estimate:
HKD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 51,300 – 76,900

Auction Result:
HKD: 480,000