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Lot Essay
Mao Yan has spent years on studying portraits. He has only chosen his friends as subjects as they are part of his life. However, Mao does not stop at with imitating or sketching. Instead, he uses rich colours and expressive strokes to reflect the figures’ spirit and inner thoughts.
Untitled (Jelmer Van Sijk Series) (Lot 139) reveals a calm and mild atmosphere with emotions looming beneath the brushstrokes. The man closes his eyes and leans back his head painted in detail. But his body is partially visible, blending into the ambiguous background from his neck down, as if he is a vague image in the subconsciousness of the artist. The contrast between void and concreteness is associated with the “empty space” in traditional Chinese paintings, where “emptiness” and “existence” complement each other, and the emphasis on spiritual, rather than physical, likeness.
Mao believes that portraits exist everywhere in our daily life, such as the reflections in mirrors, shopwindows or water. Therefore, instead of pursuing “likeness”, he tries to explore the subtle spiritual world of human beings through his brush.
Untitled (Jelmer Van Sijk Series) (Lot 139) reveals a calm and mild atmosphere with emotions looming beneath the brushstrokes. The man closes his eyes and leans back his head painted in detail. But his body is partially visible, blending into the ambiguous background from his neck down, as if he is a vague image in the subconsciousness of the artist. The contrast between void and concreteness is associated with the “empty space” in traditional Chinese paintings, where “emptiness” and “existence” complement each other, and the emphasis on spiritual, rather than physical, likeness.
Mao believes that portraits exist everywhere in our daily life, such as the reflections in mirrors, shopwindows or water. Therefore, instead of pursuing “likeness”, he tries to explore the subtle spiritual world of human beings through his brush.