ZHONG CHENG

  • Zhong Cheng 2024 Autumn Auction「Modern And Contemporary Art」
    • Download

    164

    LEIGH WEN (b.1959)

    Ocean

    1995

    Oil on Canvas (a set of four)
    Single piece: 152.5 x 183 cm (4) Overall size: 152.5 x 732 cm

    Signed on the reverse: Leigh Wen in English and dated 1995 (4)

    Estimate TWD 4,500,000-5,500,000
    USD 141,000-172,300
    HKD 0-0

    Hammer Price TWD 5,400,000
    USD 166,924
    HKD 1,304,348

With a certificate of authenticity from gallery

Provenance：

Illustrated：

Exhibition：

Exposition：

"I am often awed by the Creator's power, and deeply influenced by the Eastern philosophy of reverence for heaven and love for the earth. When I face nature, I feel the smallness of humankind and learn the importance of selflessness, tolerance, and giving." — Leigh Wen

Leigh Wen understands that the true essence of art lies in chaos, yet this chaos is a vibrant force—wild and fierce. Through her mastery of art, she effortlessly grounds herself within this tumultuous energy. Her process involves priming the canvas, layering it with dark pigments, and then scraping them away. The most striking feature of her work is the endless network of scraped lines—each one unique, despite the repetitive action. This large-scale scraping is like an eruption of life energy, bursting forth from within, capturing the artist's inner restlessness and its deep, purposeful significance.

The artist herself reflects: "In my palette, colors are not chosen merely for surface reasons, but because they fulfill an emotional and spiritual need within the art. I have completed a series of large-scale paintings inspired by Western cosmology’s four elements, each of which incorporates wave-like patterns. The series comes together as a rich, expansive whole, an exploration of the infinite universe."

"My paintings speak of both personal and cultural history. Growing up on the island of Taiwan, I have always felt a profound, intimate connection with the primal forces of water and nature." Having lived abroad for many years, she moves between two homes, in the United States and Taiwan, separated by vast oceans. In works that center on water, her art is infused with a longing for distant shores.

Her four-panel work Ocean, in its immense scale, captures the essence of nature’s hues and imagery. Intricate, delicate lines interlace and overlap across the canvas, brimming with vitality and energy, creating a whole that explores the vastness of the universe. Through Leigh Wen’s brushstrokes, one can catch glimpses of her life’s journey, guiding the viewer to connect with her subtle emotions. Clouds drift across the sky, becoming finer and finer, like strands of hair floating in water. The intricate, layered lines of the ocean, with their rhythmic rise and fall, link the sea to the heart. Soft, abundant feelings flow gently towards the horizon, while the warm sun begins to break through the soft clouds. These images are symbolic of Leigh Wen’s deep yearning for her homeland. She begins with a broad base of dark tones, layering brighter colors, then uses her brush to scrape away the surface, letting the lines move naturally and authentically. The alternating dense and free-flowing lines perfectly capture the depth of the ocean and the swell of the waves, with each intricately woven line telling a story of her reverence for nature.

View More Works