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Lot Essay
Created in 1962, 16.04.62 is Zao Wou-Ki’s first and only painting on a three-panel folding screen made of wooden planks, transcending the two-dimensional space of the canvas. This work undoubtedly marks a milestone in Zao’s creation of polyptychs. Among the nearly 2,000 works that Zao created during his lifetime, there is an extremely small number of triptychs. The majority of them are horizontal and flat compositions, whereas 16.04.62 is vertical and can be presented in a three-dimensional form. The late 1950s saw a major change in Zao’s artistic development as he sought breakthrough in both concept and composition. He began to let go of his achievements from the oracle-bone period, deliberately erasing indicative, tangible characters and symbols from his works. He attempted to express his philosophical ideas and his perception of the universe and the world through only colours and lines, giving interpretation to matters that are nonvisual but exist in their own forms. In terms of form, in 1962, he found unexpected inspiration from the traditional Chinese folding screen, creating a new way of seeing that moves beyond the constraints of compositions on flat surfaces. In the following year, this work debuted at the exhibition Diptychs and Triptychs of Contemporary Artists held by Galerie Creuzevault in Paris. It was featured in subsequent solo exhibitions of Zao, stunning the audience at each showcase.
By the time this work was conceptualised, Zao had begun to move past the grief over the separation from his ex-wife Xie Jinglan. In 1958, the artist met the film star May Zhao in Hong Kong, who he fell in love with and married. The lustre of love is reflected in this work created in the early 1960s. The three vertical wooden panels are largely covered in layers of amber-coloured paints, as hues of varying density resemble shimmering reflections on the water or rays of sunlight falling on the earth, dazzling the viewer by their vibrant beauty. In 16.04.62, ink-black lines mass together above the mid-point and at the bottom of the painting, leaving the large central area monochromatic. It conjures up a space where emptiness replaces form, opening up a greater imaginative realm in the painting. We feel the pulse of life from the surging lines, and glimpse into memories of a vast, tranquil sky in the blank spaces. At first glance, the painting bears certain resemblances to American Abstract Expressionist Rothko’s compositions of large colour fields, in which blurry lines and thin, semi-transparent paint seem afloat, as if drifting and rising in the wind. In this work, Zao hinted at a sense of motion along the horizontal line with intricate brushstrokes in pure colours. The thick, intense ink-black lines converge with the deep shades of brown, green, grey and white, as the circular flow in the composition instills a temporal dimension into the portrayal of space. How to bring a sense of motion into paintings was a subject of constant exploration for Zao Wou-Ki. The Impressionist painter Claude Monde was masterful in depicting the rippling water surface that extends into the distance. In Chinese ink painting, texturing techniques, ink dots of varying density and darkness, and blank spaces are used to create the heaving mountains and the clouds and mist. While there are no figurative forms in the boundless wilderness in 16.04.62, the textures of raw and delicate brushstrokes evoke the tremendous twirl of the chaos, embodying the endless renewals of all lives in the universe.
By the time this work was conceptualised, Zao had begun to move past the grief over the separation from his ex-wife Xie Jinglan. In 1958, the artist met the film star May Zhao in Hong Kong, who he fell in love with and married. The lustre of love is reflected in this work created in the early 1960s. The three vertical wooden panels are largely covered in layers of amber-coloured paints, as hues of varying density resemble shimmering reflections on the water or rays of sunlight falling on the earth, dazzling the viewer by their vibrant beauty. In 16.04.62, ink-black lines mass together above the mid-point and at the bottom of the painting, leaving the large central area monochromatic. It conjures up a space where emptiness replaces form, opening up a greater imaginative realm in the painting. We feel the pulse of life from the surging lines, and glimpse into memories of a vast, tranquil sky in the blank spaces. At first glance, the painting bears certain resemblances to American Abstract Expressionist Rothko’s compositions of large colour fields, in which blurry lines and thin, semi-transparent paint seem afloat, as if drifting and rising in the wind. In this work, Zao hinted at a sense of motion along the horizontal line with intricate brushstrokes in pure colours. The thick, intense ink-black lines converge with the deep shades of brown, green, grey and white, as the circular flow in the composition instills a temporal dimension into the portrayal of space. How to bring a sense of motion into paintings was a subject of constant exploration for Zao Wou-Ki. The Impressionist painter Claude Monde was masterful in depicting the rippling water surface that extends into the distance. In Chinese ink painting, texturing techniques, ink dots of varying density and darkness, and blank spaces are used to create the heaving mountains and the clouds and mist. While there are no figurative forms in the boundless wilderness in 16.04.62, the textures of raw and delicate brushstrokes evoke the tremendous twirl of the chaos, embodying the endless renewals of all lives in the universe.