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Lot Essay
In July 1991, art critics Yin Jinan, Zhou Yan, Fan Dian, Kong Chang'an, and artist Wang Youshen, jointly organised the New Generation Art Exhibition. This was held in the National Museum of Chinese History as a response to the feeling of disorientation experienced in the Chinese art world following the '85 New Wave Art Movement. The organisers used phrases such as 'religious idiom', 'ostentatious colouring', and 'romantic feelings' to describe the 'superficial' and 'empty talk' of the New Wave. Moreover, they suggested that the value of 'New Generation' lay in their 'vision of the present' and concern for reality. This was especially the case with their unique 'fragmental' expression of emotion, which was entirely different from that of the 'grand narrative' found in the New Wave.
The appearance of the 'New Generation' marked a re-emergence of Realism. This fact was reflected by the renegade academic group, consisting primarily of artists trained at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (including 16 artists such as Liu Xiaodong, Wang Huaxiang, Yu Hong, Wang Jingsong, Song Yonghong, Liu Qinghe, Wei Rong). By expressing their own daily experience and true emotions, these artists strove to faithfully reproduce a certain moment and state of mind. Zhan Wang's work, Sitting Girl, was the only sculpture displayed in this exhibition. He captured the moment in a life-sized sculpture of a seated young girl tilted her chair forward. The girl is plainly dressed with no apparent signs of her identity. Her mouth is slightly open, and her intense, downcast eyes and slightly knitted eyebrows suggest a response to something beyond our view; perhaps she is talking to someone, or something is happening at the moment. The tilted chair and the tense muscles of her forearms convey a sense of unease to the viewer.
During his time as a student in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Zhan Wang traveled across China, ranging from Guangzhou and Shenzhen, to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia where ethnic groups live and work, as well as the Dunhuang grottoes. He began to reflect on the heavy emphasis on technique in conventional academia, as oppose to the more natural su style education. He pondered on the relationship between spirituality, aestheticism and self-identity. His art style showed the varying influences of Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Aristide Maillol and he was deeply influenced by Alberto Giacometti's unprejudiced perception of 'form'. Zhan Wang believes that Giacometti's art is not the visual experience of reality, but an intuitive transformation of his inner feelings. At the same time, the artist also refers to the pure psychic automatism of the Surrealist theorist, André Breton. All these influences are well captured in Sitting Girl, which allows viewers to sense the feelings of instability and emotional anxiety through the compositional imbalance of the figure. Zhan Wang's effort towards spirituality influenced his later works, such as the Mao Suit and the renowned Artificial Rocks.
The appearance of the 'New Generation' marked a re-emergence of Realism. This fact was reflected by the renegade academic group, consisting primarily of artists trained at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (including 16 artists such as Liu Xiaodong, Wang Huaxiang, Yu Hong, Wang Jingsong, Song Yonghong, Liu Qinghe, Wei Rong). By expressing their own daily experience and true emotions, these artists strove to faithfully reproduce a certain moment and state of mind. Zhan Wang's work, Sitting Girl, was the only sculpture displayed in this exhibition. He captured the moment in a life-sized sculpture of a seated young girl tilted her chair forward. The girl is plainly dressed with no apparent signs of her identity. Her mouth is slightly open, and her intense, downcast eyes and slightly knitted eyebrows suggest a response to something beyond our view; perhaps she is talking to someone, or something is happening at the moment. The tilted chair and the tense muscles of her forearms convey a sense of unease to the viewer.
During his time as a student in the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Zhan Wang traveled across China, ranging from Guangzhou and Shenzhen, to the grasslands of Inner Mongolia where ethnic groups live and work, as well as the Dunhuang grottoes. He began to reflect on the heavy emphasis on technique in conventional academia, as oppose to the more natural su style education. He pondered on the relationship between spirituality, aestheticism and self-identity. His art style showed the varying influences of Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Marino Marini, Henry Moore, Aristide Maillol and he was deeply influenced by Alberto Giacometti's unprejudiced perception of 'form'. Zhan Wang believes that Giacometti's art is not the visual experience of reality, but an intuitive transformation of his inner feelings. At the same time, the artist also refers to the pure psychic automatism of the Surrealist theorist, André Breton. All these influences are well captured in Sitting Girl, which allows viewers to sense the feelings of instability and emotional anxiety through the compositional imbalance of the figure. Zhan Wang's effort towards spirituality influenced his later works, such as the Mao Suit and the renowned Artificial Rocks.