Lot 540: w - Zhang Feng, b. 1965 , LAST SONG

inscribed with the signature, dated 2000 and stamped with the foundry mark bronze

height: 79cm.; 31 1/8in.

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Executed in 2000 and prodcued in various formats.
Although it stands 80 centimetres tall and is cast in solid bronze there is undeniably something maquette-like about Zhang Feng?s Last Song. This is not in the sense that a maquette is an unfinished sketch, a mere stage towards the ultimate execution of a sculpture. Rather it is because this key work so exquisitely demonstrates Zhang?s sculptures as propositions, ideas he puts forward to encourage the viewer to partake in the very process of creation.

Last Song is delicately poised between sculpture?s two age old traditional counterpoints. On one hand the building up and adding together, as the artist moulds a sculpture out of clay, versus the meticulous performance of subtracting when a sculpture is carefully chiselled out of a block of marble. This human figure exudes vibrancy and motion, yet stands firmly and centrally with two feet on the ground. The voluminous, block like elements of the character?s head and torso are reminiscent of the Cubists endeavours to suggest an object?s multiple viewpoints. Its slender arms and legs echo Giacometti?s dialogue with archetypical form and pre-historic figurines.