ZHONG CHENG

Zhong Cheng 2024 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」

  • Zhong Cheng 2014 Autumn Auction「Morden And Contemporary Art」
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    XU BING (b.1955)

    Stone Path: Ruined

    Stone
    100(L)x58(W)x16.5(H)cm

    Estimate TWD 340,000-550,000
    USD 0-0
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 708,000
    USD 0
    HKD 0

Provenance：Acquired directly from the artist

Illustrated：

Exhibition：

Exposition：

“What you are going to say is unprecedented and does not exist in the current language. You need to find a new form to present it and expand the current art world.”  ---Xu Bing. 

Xu Bing began “Book from the Sky” since 1987 and spent three years creating four thousand characters no one could understand. He made these characters similar to Chinese characters. He followed the orders of the Kang Xi dictionary and created these fake characters. With the Sung Dynasty removable type printing technique, he bind these characters into books and long scripts to confuse viewers. Xu Bing communicated with these communication blocks that are contradictory and abstract and creating an impact on how people view culture. He expanded the thoughts of the viewers. After living in the US, and encountering language barrier, he began “New English Calligraphy” creation, whereas he reconstructed the English alphabets with Chinese calligraphy and invented a writing technique that looks similar to Chinese characters. Unlike “Book from the Sky” that can’t be read, “New English Calligraphy” are real characters. The artist combined two vastly different characters and created an education system which enables any foreigner to write and explore a wider cultural experience. 

 “Ruined” is one of the rocks of the Stone Series. Xu Bing translated Chinese poems into English and carved each vocabulary onto each rock. The rocks line up into a small path in order to guide viewers to read and walk along. When they finish walking the path, they have also finished reading the poem.

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