YANG CHI-HUNG (Chinese, B. 1947)
Lot 516

YANG CHI-HUNG (Chinese, B. 1947)

Interlink

Closed31 May 2015

Price Realised

HKD 687,500

More Information

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YANG CHI-HUNG (Chinese, B. 1947)
Interlink
signed in Chinese; titled and dated 'Interlink 1998' (on the reverse)
oil on canvas
170 x 221 cm. (66 7/8 x 87 in.)
Painted in 1998

Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Anon. sale, Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2012, Lot 2220
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Specialist note

"Life is very short. There isn't much time left for creation. Artists leave traces through creating artworks, and this is the artistic value of existence." - Yang Chi-Hung

Born in Taiwan, now living and working in New York, Yang Chi-Hung's works present an intense sense of the "painterly" style. Encompassing both the unrestrained Western spatial temporal reasoning and the Chinese style brushstrokes of traditional calligraphy and water-and-ink painting, Yang has gradually developed his unique style of lyrical abstraction.

In his artistic career over the past four decades, Yang has been through several stylistic transitions, from the reflection of his own existence, to exploring the realms of cultural diversity after he moved to the United States. Since the 1990s, he started exploring a new style of painting, in which "plants" become the principle axis. This stylistic change can be illustrated in INterlink (Lot 516), whereby Yang adeptly creates a light-shadow effect in the dark through the use of earth-toned colours. The artist's deeply embedded imagination and vision are reflected in every way, reproducing the touch of nature and constructing abstract colour fields to representing common symbols.

Similar to Interlink is The Next Day (Lot 515), a recent painting by Yang that expresses the artist's power of freedom, as if revealing the stream of consciousness in his inner world. This recent painting transcends his early artistic style, whereby the existence of life is expressed through the rhythmic brushwork and colours, charging the canvas with powerful strength.

Both paintings see Yang's lifelong interest in the passing of time, and the concept of life and death. Yang's work is profoundly philosophical, permeated in a rich cultural and poetic atmosphere.