ZHONG CHENG

Zhong Cheng 2024 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」

  • Zhong Cheng 2018 Autumn Auction「Morden And Contemporary Art」
    • Download

    198

    SU XIAOBAI (b.1949)

    White Collar (diptych)

    2011

    Oil on Board, Lacquer on Linen Cloth
    140x360cm

    Signed Xiaobai in English Signed on the reverse: titled and signed Su Xiao-Bai in Chinese, sized 140x360cm, dated 2011

    Estimate TWD 9,500,000-12,000,000
    USD 305,500-385,900
    HKD 2,405,000-3,038,000

    Hammer Price TWD 11,400,000
    USD 370,130
    HKD 2,908,163

Provenance：

Illustrated：＂Exhibition of Xiao-Bai,＂ Author Gallery, Shanghai China, 2011, Page 7

Exhibition：＂Exhibition of Xiao-Bai,＂ Author Gallery, Shanghai China, June 30th - July 8th, 2011

Exposition：

Chinese artist Su Xiaobai was born in Wuhan in 1949. He attended the Bejing Central Academy of Fine Art, and was later awarded an art scholarship to participate in the graduate program offered by Düsseldorf Academy of Fine Arts in Germany in 1987; where he studied under the guidance of Konrad Klapheck, Gerhard Richter and Markus Luperts. He lived in Germany for over twenty years, immersed in Western culture and separation from his homeland led the artist to foster a deeper understanding of the cultural difference and a renewed perspective. He cultivated the ability to discover the duality between art and object, and developed a unique artistic language that traces back to the traditional culture of his ancestry. Su adopted lacquer, a medium steeped in Chinese history as his aesthetic means. He stands at the cross-cultural convergence of Easten and Western civilization, embodying the reciprocal philosophies and assimilation of the new globalized world, but maintains his own personal reinvention. 

 “White Collar” diptych, was created in 2011, luscious and mysterious, set against a pure black background, the two-dimensional painting renders volume and depth. The sensuous, curved and abraded textures resembled fragments of Chinese Inscribed Oracle Bones and also free-hand calligraphy writing, both indicating strong association to Oriental culture and histories. Stripped of figurative representation, Su’s practice explores a three-dimensional quality through the effect of overlaying strips of canvas, linen with multiple layers of lacquer. Soon, unpredictable forms and markings begin to appear on the surface, with minute cracks and pitting taking the viewer’s attention as the colour beneath appears to develop and breath. His former art training in Germany allowed him to explore the medium to it’s full potential. The seemingly arbitrary, yet meticulously deliberate handling of visual forms reveal the artist’s pursuit of aesthetic depth and quality. The artist prefers his works to be viewed under natural lighting, since softer light can heighten the work’s enigmatic and ever-changing quality. The artist once said, “White exists in a dimension where time have not yet merged, and thoughts are free to pass by.”     

In “White Collar,” it’s vast composition and monochromatic imagery reveals vibrant layers of under-paintings and rich colours. As an artist, Su is always searching for new material, when he returned to China, he noticed lacquer is used in everyday life, typically applied to wood, ceramic, and craft, Furthermore, the medium is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese culture. Su Imbued this traditional material with modernist notions of colour theory he learned in Germany. In comparison to traditional application of lacquer, Su’s creative process is highly dynamic and experimental; at times, he would splash lacquers on the linen and tiles until the layer thickens. Other times, in a repetitive motion, Su would paint layers of lacquer on cloth, linin and wood as substitute for oil on canvas, in a purely structural and balanced composition, rendering a three-dimensional momentum and vitality. Lacquer embody an extraordinary trait of movement that cannot be found in acrylic or oil paint. The luminescence surface also embodies a quality of light and transparency that shines from within. The thick, imposing texture stimulates a curiosity within the viewer, while the integration of thousand-years old cultural and historical accumulation permeates the expressively colored abstracts. 

Su’s work simultaneously recalls the work of Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko. Rothko declared “Intuition is the height of rationality, the two are not in opposition. Intuition is the contrary to dead knowledge.” This is indicated in Su Xiao Bai’s creations, as Su sees each work as a form of meditation, absent of intention, centered on the quality of the material and the relationships among them. He consistently crosses barrier between the abstract and physical, drawing detail from colours and texture, and creating a unique harmonious dialogue between contrasting artistic practices. Exploring painting’s own intrinsic nature, the work comes from its own fabrication, the moment of its own concoction. The work exists on their own, as a whole, defined by their own execution; demonstrating an ethereal essence of natural phenomena. His paintings are beautiful objects of contemplation.

View More Works