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Lot Essay
"Neon represents the colour of our generation. Its vibrancy is something that no other colour spectra could ever rival: it carries with it a unique sense of import, like an outburst of living energy after a long period of repression."
- Huang Yuxing
Born in 1975, Huang Yuxing graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in mural painting in 2000, and he currently lives and works in Beijing. Life and the experiences it brings have been a consistent theme in his creations for many years. In the few years immediately after graduation, Huang experimented with different artistic languages, superimposing images from pop culture onto painted canvases. But Huang quickly grew dissatisfied with this artistic approach, finding it unable to satisfy his passion for painting, and he began to phase out the use of borrowed images in his work. The next period of Huang’s output was dominated by paintings primarily executed in shades of black, with neon colours serving as visual accents in his work. However in the next few years, events in Huang life catalysed a shift in the artist’s outlook and frame of mind, changes that were reflected in his work. His art form became more liberal, and the colour palette he used grew more spirited. He also began juxtaposing multiple images over each other to heighten the contrast and vibrancy of the works’ neon colours, thus creating a simultaneous coexistence of brightness and constraint on the same canvas.
The composition of River (Lot 19), painted in 2015, is split into halves along a horizon line: the seemingly distant, vertical lines resemble a cascading river plunging downward, or a crumbling psychedelic cosmos where the virtual and the physical are obscured. In contrast, the water flowing gently in the foreground takes on the shape of bubble-like or black-hole-like ellipses. The ellipses are a visual characteristic that appear in Huang's works with different meanings during different periods; in the early days, the ellipses were human faces with a sombre expression. By the time River was created, the ellipses represent eddies formed when the brook gurgles slowly past, or imaginary amplifiers that echo the water's songs. The dimensional depth created by the subtle changes in colour in these ellipses are reminiscent of Victor Vasarely's unique exploration of colours and illusionistic depth (Fig. 1). However, unlike Vasarely's logical, precise, and scientific approach to painting, Huang chooses to render the dynamic dimensionality and depth of his work with greater personal sensitivity and expressiveness. Gazing at the lively river in the painting, it is as though the water is composed of floating neon lights.
To create this work, Huang repeatedly applied thin layers of translucent paint all over the canvas repeatedly. Swaths of colour engage in an interplay of tones that appear both fantastic and real. The vibrant neon colours combine to create a fascinating scene, where each tone vies separately for the spotlight. The effect is one that resplendently combines the dark and the light. The process of gradually building up colour is filled with uncertainties, yet the repeated application of layers of paint breathes life into the piece, and River blossoms under the artist's skilful execution.
The works in the River series embodies the artist's reflection on time and life. Huang has stated that, “The river is one of my favourite subjects; it defines the shape of time in my mind's eye.” If Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto manages to capture time in the frame of his black-and-white photographs (Fig. 2), Huang Yuxing, in contrast, fills his work with boundless movement and rhythm. Using smooth, bold lines and prismatic colours, Huang suggests the journey of the river and the infinitude of time: an endless circle that is irreversible and destructive. Even though both artists have chosen water as their subject by which to interpret time, Hiroshi Sugimoto seeks to record a single moment and the immediacy of that frozenness, while Huang strives to conceptualize the metamorphosis of time and it’s vast, eternal qualities.
Huang Yuxing is fascinated by the creation of tension in the interplay of colours, where a sought-after juxtaposition exists in the contrast between the bright and the oppressive, and the delicate balance between the ephemeral and the eternal. The rushing yet calm waters in this work seem to reach an equilibrium between stillness and movement, producing a sense of timelessness in the contrasting elements of the work. In paying homage to Surrealism, this masterpiece provides a narrative of the artist's understanding of life and time, while chronicling the changes and experience he has witnessed, placing the viewer in a dreamland where transience and infinitude can both coexist.
- Huang Yuxing
Born in 1975, Huang Yuxing graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts with a degree in mural painting in 2000, and he currently lives and works in Beijing. Life and the experiences it brings have been a consistent theme in his creations for many years. In the few years immediately after graduation, Huang experimented with different artistic languages, superimposing images from pop culture onto painted canvases. But Huang quickly grew dissatisfied with this artistic approach, finding it unable to satisfy his passion for painting, and he began to phase out the use of borrowed images in his work. The next period of Huang’s output was dominated by paintings primarily executed in shades of black, with neon colours serving as visual accents in his work. However in the next few years, events in Huang life catalysed a shift in the artist’s outlook and frame of mind, changes that were reflected in his work. His art form became more liberal, and the colour palette he used grew more spirited. He also began juxtaposing multiple images over each other to heighten the contrast and vibrancy of the works’ neon colours, thus creating a simultaneous coexistence of brightness and constraint on the same canvas.
The composition of River (Lot 19), painted in 2015, is split into halves along a horizon line: the seemingly distant, vertical lines resemble a cascading river plunging downward, or a crumbling psychedelic cosmos where the virtual and the physical are obscured. In contrast, the water flowing gently in the foreground takes on the shape of bubble-like or black-hole-like ellipses. The ellipses are a visual characteristic that appear in Huang's works with different meanings during different periods; in the early days, the ellipses were human faces with a sombre expression. By the time River was created, the ellipses represent eddies formed when the brook gurgles slowly past, or imaginary amplifiers that echo the water's songs. The dimensional depth created by the subtle changes in colour in these ellipses are reminiscent of Victor Vasarely's unique exploration of colours and illusionistic depth (Fig. 1). However, unlike Vasarely's logical, precise, and scientific approach to painting, Huang chooses to render the dynamic dimensionality and depth of his work with greater personal sensitivity and expressiveness. Gazing at the lively river in the painting, it is as though the water is composed of floating neon lights.
To create this work, Huang repeatedly applied thin layers of translucent paint all over the canvas repeatedly. Swaths of colour engage in an interplay of tones that appear both fantastic and real. The vibrant neon colours combine to create a fascinating scene, where each tone vies separately for the spotlight. The effect is one that resplendently combines the dark and the light. The process of gradually building up colour is filled with uncertainties, yet the repeated application of layers of paint breathes life into the piece, and River blossoms under the artist's skilful execution.
The works in the River series embodies the artist's reflection on time and life. Huang has stated that, “The river is one of my favourite subjects; it defines the shape of time in my mind's eye.” If Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto manages to capture time in the frame of his black-and-white photographs (Fig. 2), Huang Yuxing, in contrast, fills his work with boundless movement and rhythm. Using smooth, bold lines and prismatic colours, Huang suggests the journey of the river and the infinitude of time: an endless circle that is irreversible and destructive. Even though both artists have chosen water as their subject by which to interpret time, Hiroshi Sugimoto seeks to record a single moment and the immediacy of that frozenness, while Huang strives to conceptualize the metamorphosis of time and it’s vast, eternal qualities.
Huang Yuxing is fascinated by the creation of tension in the interplay of colours, where a sought-after juxtaposition exists in the contrast between the bright and the oppressive, and the delicate balance between the ephemeral and the eternal. The rushing yet calm waters in this work seem to reach an equilibrium between stillness and movement, producing a sense of timelessness in the contrasting elements of the work. In paying homage to Surrealism, this masterpiece provides a narrative of the artist's understanding of life and time, while chronicling the changes and experience he has witnessed, placing the viewer in a dreamland where transience and infinitude can both coexist.