YANG CHI-HUNG (USA/TAIWAN, B. 1947)
YANG CHI-HUNG (USA/TAIWAN, B. 1947)

VARIATION

Details
YANG CHI-HUNG (USA/TAIWAN, B. 1947)
VARIATION
signed, titled and dated 'Chihung Yang Variation 2015' (on the reverse)
acrylic on canvas
96.3 x 128.2 cm. (37 7/8 x 50 1/2 in.)
Painted in 2015
Provenance
Private Collection, Asia

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Annie Lee
Annie Lee

Lot Essay

Yang Chi-Hung is the first artist of Chinese descent to have his works exhibited at New York's P.S.1 (now MOMA . Yang has lived in New York since 1979, allowing him to soak up the bountiful, broad spectrum of Western contemporary art over the course P.S.1) and a proud recipient of the "Outstanding Asian-American Artist" award. Born in 1947 in Taiwan, Yang possesses the inborn qualities of the Orient. Lines—the fundamental element in Chinese art—are given a new breath of life through his animated gesturesof 40 years. It is no wonder that Yang has undergone six stylistic transformations in his creative career spanning half a century.

Western abstract expressionism is reflected in the works of Yang Chi-Hung, and this practice can be traced back to Jackson Pollock in the 1950s. A hollowed sense of void after World War II prompted the emergence of abstract expressionism. Artists were no longer eager to capture the volatility of the external environment; instead, they turned their minds to contemplating and reflecting on their own inner experience. One such example is Variation (Lot 407), where abstract expressionism takes centre stage as the core of presentation, splashed with the varying perceptions of existence, hybridly concocted to orchestrate the melodious variations of life. The magnificent movement is sometimes played in allegro, and at times expressed in simple notes— a reminiscence of the intertwined rhythm of the artist's life beating to different tempos. After the sounds reverberate in the mind, only symphonic harmony can be heard.

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