Mixed media on canvas
153×122.5 cm. 60 1/4×48 1/4 in.
Signed in Chinese and initials, dated on the reverse
LITERATURE
2020, Paul Chiang: A Retrospective, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, p. 181, 183 and 191
EXHIBITED
28 Mar - 28 Jun 2020, Paul Chiang: A Retrospective, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei
PROVENANCE
7 Jun 2015, Ravenel Taipei Spring Auction, Lot 289
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above
Note: A label of Taipei Eslite Gallery is affixed on the reverse
A Century of Radiance, A Century of the Soul
The Eternal Light of Paul Chiang's Hundred Year Temple
Born in Taichung in 1942, Paul Chiang resolved to pursue art at the age of 15 and was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of the Provincial Normal University. After graduating in 1966, he held his first solo exhibition at the provincial museum. In 1968, he moved to New York, where he immersed himself in the city's vibrant art scene while maintaining a reclusive lifestyle, steadily forging his own path in abstraction. During this time, he spent a brief period in Paris in 1982, where his Notre-Dame de Paris series helped solidify his artistic voice. In 1995, he returned to Taiwan to care for his father, and during visits to ancient temples such as Longshan Temple and Bao'an Temple, he experienced a profound epiphany that led to the creation of his awe-inspiring Hundred Year Temple series, which cemented his status in the art world. In recent years, his major solo exhibitions at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts have moved countless viewers and sparked widespread acclaim. His works are held in the collections of public and private institutions, including the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and the Yageo Foundation.
The work presented in this auction, Hundred Year Temple, completed in 1995, embodies the artist's return to Eastern philosophy through its rich, textured abstract expressionism. This piece was selected by the artist as a key representative of the Hundred Year Temple series for his 2020 retrospective at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, underscoring its significance.
A Thousand Rays of Light, A Century in a Moment
Rising incense smoke, glowing altars, eternal prayer lamps, and the ancient bronze hues of temple light-these are the subject matters in Hundred Year Temple. Through Chiang's abstract structures and rugged, powerful brushwork, a sacred aura emerges. After three decades in the U.S., where he absorbed the essence of Western abstract art, Chiang found the "eternal light" of his homeland in the temples of Taiwan. In Hundred Year Temple, he transforms the physical reality of these sacred spaces into a spiritual vision, using dense, layered brushstrokes to build a profound, mysterious background. Crosshatched strokes, applied repeatedly from light to dark and back to light, create a luminous halo. Delicate white dots scattered across the canvas evoke an unknown brilliance, while the intentionally weathered textures mimic the fallen lacquer on the ancient pillars, bearing the marks of history. From left to right, as the light intensifies, the haze of incense seems to dissipate over time, and the inner light becomes clearer, capturing a century of temple glory in a single, radiant moment on canvas.
All Forms Converge to One: Boundless Dazzle
Though temple candlelight was Chiang's starting point, Hundred Year Temple transcends this to depict a broader, more vibrant world and the spiritual "light" emanating from the soul. Standing before the painting, the flickering sparks of hope resemble distant celestial bodies, with their shimmering light affirming the existence of the beyond. In Chiang's eyes, "What form or image in this world cannot be found in nature?" All abstraction stems from the natural world, and that nature arises from the breadth of one's vision. Within its depths lies the ceaseless flow of seasons and days, the vast interplay of sea and sky, the dazzling array of colours, and the boundless vitality of life - all born from a spark of inspiration in the artist's mind. Through Chiang's spiritual return to his homeland, Hundred Year Temple ultimately transforms profound philosophy and historical weight into a radiant vision of light and splendour!
Price estimate:
HKD 400,000 - 600,000
USD 51,300 - 76,900
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