Lot 683: SHI HU

SHI HU
(Born in 1942)
Butterfly Shadow
signed 'Shi Hu' in Chinese (lower right)
oil on board
59.5 x 44.5 cm. (23 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
Painted in 1999

University Museum & Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong,
Paintings by Shi Hu , Hong Kong, China, 2000, p.99 (illustrated)

"Pictographs are characteristic of Chinese expression: linear designs developed into characters, characters become poetry and poetry becomes a work of art, all achieved with ink strokes able to express anything."

Shi Hu is not your stereotypical Chinese or Western painter. Refusing to be pigeonholed, Shi develops his technique and finds inspiration from all sources, thus making his art uniquely global. Shi's rich display of linework-embracing patches dazzles the eyes and impinges upon our comprehension of the pictorial surface. Green Virgin (Lot 684) depicts overlapping figures and forms, allowing individual and deviant expressions to occur on the same face. The spiritual qualities of the colour purple and the layering of ink washes, rubbings and line-work culminate in complex composition system that satiate our senses to the point of becoming difficult to comprehend.

In Butterfly Shadow (Lot 683), the solemn expression and opulent feminine contours lend themselves to primitive origins, to the extent that the painting looks like a rubbing painted over with ink. According to Shi, modern art has evolved from folk art. He therefore advocates that artists should be able to draw their inspiration from primitive art. His driving force for creations comes from Chinese traditional arts such as wall painting, stone carving, lacquer paintings, paper cutting and folk painting.
The clear influences of traditional, modern and creative techniques blend together in both works: ink washes rich in tonal gradations with splendid colours and unusual compositions, enigmatic subject matters and the amalgamation of Eastern and Western elements, so that ordinary objects evolve into extraordinary things.
Deviating from the vogue of the time, Shi blends the characteristics of Chinese art with the techniques and concepts of different schools of art from the West, painting with great ardour and proving to be a fascinating "heretic" among present-day painters.