Lot 771: MAO XUHUI

MAO XUHUI B. 1956 PARENT ICON WITH OVAL signed Da Mao in Chinese and dated 1992,11 ; signed Da Mao in Chinese, titled in Chinese and dated 1992,11 on the reverse, framed oil on canvas 74 by 60 cm.; 29 1/8 by 23 3/4 in.

Xin Dong Cheng Gallery, Beijing
Private Collection, Europe

Chinese artist, Mao Xuhui, together with other important contemporary artists, established the 'Southwest Artist Group.' Though his style has undergone many changes, having practically experimenting with all factions of Western Modernism, Mao's oeuvre has continuously expressed his personal and deep concern with philosophy and history. Even in his most mischievous works, for example, David and Venus (1986), the artist still parodies traditional Greco-Roman classicism. Conversely, the representative The Red Volumes (1984) brings to the fore his critical and serious ruminations on the human body, amounting to an abstract condition when represented on the canvas, expressive of the fervent desires and aspirations of human life.

Born in 1956 in Chongqing, Sichuan, Mao Xuhui entered Yunnan Art Academy in 1977, and soon afterwards, settled in Kunming, where he resides today. During the avant-garde art movement of the 1980s, artists such as Mao Xuhui, Zhang Xiaogang, Ye Yongqing and Zhou Chunya were the driving forces behind the Southwestern art scene, forming companionship amongst themselves and organizing drawing excursions together. In 1985, Mao Xuhui participated in the extremely influential exhibition, New Representation (Shanghai, Nanjing, Kunming, Chongqing). The following year, Mao Xuhui and Zhang Xiaogang formed the 'Southwest Artists Group' together. Between 1988 and 1989, a new conception of the human figure gradually began to emerge in Mao Xuhui's works: an almost overbearing, weighty portrait in which the protagonist seizes the very center. The resultant composition possesses a kind of balance, one which invokes a gravity not unlike the consecrated air of a sacrificial altar. Mao Xuhui called this configuration "Parent", a label and name of so many definitions and connotations that will always hold authority whether in feudal or modern-day China. In the 1992 Parent Icon with Oval, the gloomy tones and grey hues create an eerie, dark atmosphere, the forms dissolved so earnestly that it becomes reminiscent of abstract expressionism. As a later work in the series,Parent Icon with Oval (Lot 771) not only expresses authority of the "parent", but also seemingly invokes the impossibility of overcoming death.

The year 1993 was a crucial year for Chinese contemporary art: the Post-89: New Art From China exhibit had opened (Johnson Chang and Li Xianting's brainchild) and the 45th Venice Biennale included Chinese artists for the very first time. The styles of 'Political Pop' and 'Cynical Realism' drove the sensation of the market and boost its international reputation, thus became synonymous with Chinese contemporary art and needless to say, were the dominant trends within China. As always, however, Mao Xuhui did not follow suit, he persevered, looking for the sublime within art, rejecting categorization or aligning himself with one politically-inclined label. At the same time, he noticed a sociological phenomenon—China was climbing out of an embittered past and striving with all its might towards a new age. He lamented: "everyone is having trouble entering the nineties, attempting to adapt to a rapidly commercialized society; for someone like me who is obstinately stuck in the eighties, it is ever more challenging."

In between 1993 and 1994, Mao Xuhui experienced a transformation, returning to daily life in search for inspiration to paint. European painters, even in most usual and ordinary, found spirituality and poignancy. In realizing this, Mao Xuhui began focusing on daily life and everyday objects, such as cans, medicine, furniture and the like, finally settling on the scissor, and created the Scissor Series. He once said, "from 'parents' to 'scissors,' although it is just a simple change of motif, my fundamental discourse on the polemics of authority will never disappear." Indeed, the themes and forms behind the Parents and Scissors series have revealed a certain consistency, but most noteworthy is Mao Xuhui's style had gradually moved away from European still life paintings in pursuit of the pure power of art. In the 1995 Red Scissors and Back-Chairs (Lot 770), the background with brown abstract spaces is punctuated with blood red scissors and a grey table in the foreground. The mood and atmosphere of the paintings retain an evident air of oppression and tragedy yet the true message behind the image remains ambiguous. In the Scissors series, Mao Xuhui refines a narrative approach to painting, reflecting his constant pursuit of the spiritual experience, an art that transcends any language or word.