Watercolour on paper

45×64 cm. 17 3/4×25 1/4 in.

Signed in Chinese and pinyin and dated on bottom right
PROVENANCE
Acquired directly by present private European collector from the artist

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist

Return to the Spiritual Homeland
Zhou Chunya's Dancing Rocks

Zhou Chunya graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982 and later from the Kassel Academy of Fine Arts in Germany in 1988. Throughout his career, he has navigated various artistic movements, including Scar Art, the 85 New Wave, and postmodernism, yet he has never been swayed by trends. Instead, he has remained steadfast in his commitment to "depicting nature in its most direct, visceral form." In his work, he fuses the bold expressiveness of Neo-Expressionism with the spirit of Chinese literati ink painting, earning him the title of "China's leading figure in Expressionism." Zhou has been shining on the global stage since the 1990s, from the Venice Biennale in Italy to the Shanghai Biennale, from the Centre Pompidou in Paris to the National Art Museum of China, with exhibitions and collectors spanning the globe.

Despite the fame, Zhou never indulges in his past successes. From the robust and powerful Mountains and Rocks series of the 1990s, to the lively Green Dogs series, to the passionate Peach Blossoms series of the millennium, and the recent Gardens series, he consistently surprises with his innovative spirit. Taihu, created in 2018, is a masterpiece from the Gardens series, marking his progression – a heartfelt homage to his cultural mother tongue.

A Thirty-Year Journey of Spiritual Reversion

"Flying clouds, a smile amid peach blossoms bright,
Thirty years passing before home comes in sight."
——Huang Tingjian, Northern Song Dynasty poet

Huang Tingjian's poem seems tailor-made for Zhou Chunya: following the exuberant Peach Blossoms series, after more than three decades in the art world, he returns to the Eastern charm of his homeland with the restrained Gardens series. Among them, "stone" is a traditional cultural symbol that Zhou cannot forget. From 1991 to 1999, Zhou has started to paint intertwined patterns of stone bones and flesh, together with flowers and birds; later, he created the Taihu Stone series, but the depiction of stones came to an abrupt end at the turn of the millennium. It was not until he moved from Sichuan to Shanghai in 2010, at the age of sixty, that he finally rediscovered his "mother tongue," and began to paint the mountains and rocks in the Jiangnan gardens.

Roaring Lions, Dancing Rocks

"My interest is not confined to the realm of oil painting, but rather lies in expanding the boundaries of artistic language."
——Zhou Chunya

Taihu is a quintessential expressionist watercolour by Zhou Chunya, capturing a scene by the pond at the Imperial Stele Pavilion in the Lion Grove Garden of Suzhou. This work retains the short, velvety brushstrokes characteristic of his Peach Blossom period, used to depict lush green foliage and dense blue-gray tiles, while the Green Dog period's watercolour-like green hues permeate the canvas, creating a mirror-like surface of the lake. With his innovative, dynamic brushwork—marked by jumps, twists, and a sense of friction—Zhou transforms the rugged rocks along the shore into a frenzied dance of lions. Among them, two stones resemble a pair of majestic lions leaping into the air. This echoes the name Lion Grove, derived from the garden's five hundred lion-like rocks. The spectacular scene, akin to a grand lion dance, is effortlessly encapsulated within the serene landscape of a Jiangnan garden, marking Zhou Chunya's further expansion of his personal painting language. What this piece reveals are not only the exquisite craftsmanship of nature but also an artist's most fervent, spirited dance with his spiritual homeland!

Price estimate:
HKD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 25,600 – 38,500