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Lot Essay
Jia Aili was born in Dandong, a border city in northeastern China in 1979. Strategically located in an area with rich natural resources, Dandong is a hub connecting land routes to and from South Korea, China, and Euroasia. It is also designated as a major export production center and port city connecting China with South Korea and Japan. Its tactically crucial location makes it a prominent military stronghold. A first-generation youth born after China's open policies in the 70's, Jia Aili witnessed China's military, political and economic reforms of the 80's, the Cold War between the U.S and the now-defunct USSR, and the political turmoil in eastern Europe, the collapse of the Soviet Union in the late 80's and early 90's, and economic reconstruction in China of the same era. Industrial restructuring of the 80's forced the steel industry and heavy-duty machine manufacturing - Dandong's lifeline - to shut down, forcing many laborers out of employment. Jia Aili was on hand of these transitions during his formative years.
Jia's father was a writer and his home was a proverbial library of literary and political works. Some of early Russia's tragic and heroic poetry and dirges, and works by realism French novelist and playwright Honor? de Balzac were his favorite. He studied ink painting in his youth, and learned to enjoy the solitude and silence of the creative process. Those experiences unleashed his potential to express his innermost through painting. Between 2000 and 2006, Jia devoted himself to the studies of realism when enrolled in the Department of Oil Painting at Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. He was rigorously trained, and began to explore man's realistic, spiritual state.
After arriving in Beijing, Jia started to assemble pieces of realistic spectacles he has seen, or kept in his memory, in a subjective manner, using a placid, objectivist technique; he completed one after one an epic stagecraft on the canvas with an almost surrealistic touch. "This desire accounts for the enormous scale deemed necessary for the paintings, which ultimately draws viewers close to the solitary soul that Jia Aili inserts in the vast landmasses that set the stage for his synoptic psychological dramas." (A Walk in the World of Jia Aili by Karen Smith)
This work, titled Unmixed (Lot 27), shows many relations to Western Old Masters. In terms of its content, this painting alludes to the theme of the "Creation", a major source of inspiration in Western art history. In Unmixed, Jia Aili reinterprets it in the light of the challenges of modern times. The human figure in the painting holds a representation of Dolly, the first man made, or cloned, mammal. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam (Fig. 1) on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel represented the creation of man itself, as described in the Bible. Both artists want mankind to think more profoundly about its role and power. Jia Aili's intention is to warn humanity about the consequences of its actions on its future. While Unmixed is a typical example of Jia Aili's works and shows a person in a bleak apocalyptic landscape, the motif of the sheep is indeed unusual. In Catholic iconography, the sheep is often depicted in the arms of Christ or Saint John the Baptist. It represents the sacrifice of Christ to save mankind. This reference is all the more appropriate to the changes inflicted by Man on the planet.
The landscapes in Jia Aili's paintings are depicted with brushstrokes like lightening striking through a desolate, hectic or almost hostile environment, in which all beings appear disoriented. Nudity reinforces the idea of vulnerability in Jia Aili's works. The composition of a person holding a sheep is a classic theme throughout Western art, interpreted by the greatest masters, from Bosch to Caravaggio (Fig. 2). The artist himself has declared: "More than once I stood before Bosch's (Hieronymus Bosch) works (Fig. 3). No matter how old it is I believe to paint is to add more secrets, more implications, more interest, and I think I can." In the oeuvre of Jia Aili, Unmixed is a striking example of how the artist has achieved to reach an exceptional level of mastery of the technique of oil and the culture, or in the historical context it originated in. The artist conveys both contemplation, a Chinese scholar's approach to painting, and an existentialist stance, a Western perspective. The artist's sense of humour is also perceptible in Unmixed, through the rabbit ears and sunglasses the character is wearing. This attire alludes to the idea that human beings are all wearing masks. This whimsical quality shows Unmixed is an important milestone in the artist's career.
Compared with his predecessors, who adopted straightforward totems or signals to reenact political viewpoints or social leanings, Jia embraced a more open perspective to reflect on history, and social, political, and economic reforms that China has endured. His solid training and sensitivity to contemporary art define his unique, creative language: "enacting modern, artistic viewpoints on the canvas with calmness and objectivity." Jia established a new form with the epical effects of his works that is sandwiched between aesthetic narrative and anti-narrative. His extraordinary talent is, indeed, pioneering a new artistic movement.
Jia's father was a writer and his home was a proverbial library of literary and political works. Some of early Russia's tragic and heroic poetry and dirges, and works by realism French novelist and playwright Honor? de Balzac were his favorite. He studied ink painting in his youth, and learned to enjoy the solitude and silence of the creative process. Those experiences unleashed his potential to express his innermost through painting. Between 2000 and 2006, Jia devoted himself to the studies of realism when enrolled in the Department of Oil Painting at Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. He was rigorously trained, and began to explore man's realistic, spiritual state.
After arriving in Beijing, Jia started to assemble pieces of realistic spectacles he has seen, or kept in his memory, in a subjective manner, using a placid, objectivist technique; he completed one after one an epic stagecraft on the canvas with an almost surrealistic touch. "This desire accounts for the enormous scale deemed necessary for the paintings, which ultimately draws viewers close to the solitary soul that Jia Aili inserts in the vast landmasses that set the stage for his synoptic psychological dramas." (A Walk in the World of Jia Aili by Karen Smith)
This work, titled Unmixed (Lot 27), shows many relations to Western Old Masters. In terms of its content, this painting alludes to the theme of the "Creation", a major source of inspiration in Western art history. In Unmixed, Jia Aili reinterprets it in the light of the challenges of modern times. The human figure in the painting holds a representation of Dolly, the first man made, or cloned, mammal. Michelangelo's Creation of Adam (Fig. 1) on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel represented the creation of man itself, as described in the Bible. Both artists want mankind to think more profoundly about its role and power. Jia Aili's intention is to warn humanity about the consequences of its actions on its future. While Unmixed is a typical example of Jia Aili's works and shows a person in a bleak apocalyptic landscape, the motif of the sheep is indeed unusual. In Catholic iconography, the sheep is often depicted in the arms of Christ or Saint John the Baptist. It represents the sacrifice of Christ to save mankind. This reference is all the more appropriate to the changes inflicted by Man on the planet.
The landscapes in Jia Aili's paintings are depicted with brushstrokes like lightening striking through a desolate, hectic or almost hostile environment, in which all beings appear disoriented. Nudity reinforces the idea of vulnerability in Jia Aili's works. The composition of a person holding a sheep is a classic theme throughout Western art, interpreted by the greatest masters, from Bosch to Caravaggio (Fig. 2). The artist himself has declared: "More than once I stood before Bosch's (Hieronymus Bosch) works (Fig. 3). No matter how old it is I believe to paint is to add more secrets, more implications, more interest, and I think I can." In the oeuvre of Jia Aili, Unmixed is a striking example of how the artist has achieved to reach an exceptional level of mastery of the technique of oil and the culture, or in the historical context it originated in. The artist conveys both contemplation, a Chinese scholar's approach to painting, and an existentialist stance, a Western perspective. The artist's sense of humour is also perceptible in Unmixed, through the rabbit ears and sunglasses the character is wearing. This attire alludes to the idea that human beings are all wearing masks. This whimsical quality shows Unmixed is an important milestone in the artist's career.
Compared with his predecessors, who adopted straightforward totems or signals to reenact political viewpoints or social leanings, Jia embraced a more open perspective to reflect on history, and social, political, and economic reforms that China has endured. His solid training and sensitivity to contemporary art define his unique, creative language: "enacting modern, artistic viewpoints on the canvas with calmness and objectivity." Jia established a new form with the epical effects of his works that is sandwiched between aesthetic narrative and anti-narrative. His extraordinary talent is, indeed, pioneering a new artistic movement.