Yan Pei-Ming

Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is deeper in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

“A painting without feeling is quickly forgotten. Today, of course, it’s almost taboo for a painter to talk about feeing. But that’s all that counts.”
Yan Pei- Ming
in conversation with Rolf Lauter, in: Exh. Cat., Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Yan Pei-Ming: The Way of the Dragon, 2004-05, p. 114

 

The present work is an outstanding example of Yan Pei-Ming’s distinctive visual language and manipulation of traditional portraiture. Executed in 2002, the monochromatic composition illuminates the Buddha through thick impasto brushstrokes, and Ming’s gestural approach offers a dynamic and highly expressive image reflective of the work’s epic scale. The artist’s application of vibrant red pigment conforms to the strictly limited colour palette of red, black and white present throughout his oeuvre. The colour red is evocative of vitality and purity within Chinese tradition, and while Ming employs the classically Western genre of portraiture in his work, he adheres to a distinctly Chinese aesthetic as exemplified by both the symbolic choice of colour and subject matter in the Mitreya Buddha.

 

Born in Shanghai in 1960, much of Ming’s childhood was influenced by the Chinese Cultural Revolution, before he relocated to France at the age of 20. His early adaptation of traditionally Western genres and styles after moving to Europe has resulted in comparisons of Ming to such contemporary masters as Andy Warhol and Willem de Kooning. While the figure of the Buddha in the present work is significant to the artist due to his Buddhist upbringing in Shanghai, this composition can be seen within the wider context of Ming’s portraits depicting influential figures from popular culture such as Mao, Pope John Paul II and Bruce Lee. Juxtaposed against a stark, vibrant background, the magnetic presence of Ming’s symbolically charged figures remains the sole focus of each portrait.

Yan Pei-Ming has reinvented classical modes of painting through his unique marriage of Chinese visual tradition and Western formal approach, and in doing so has achieved an international audience. Accordingly, the artist’s works can be found in the permanent collections of distinguished institutions including Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and Museum Ludwig, Cologne. Ming’s transitory, ephemeral portraits therefore offer a universal image of human nature: “Yan-Pei Ming does not paint the canvas: he creates an image almost within it. He does not represent something but gives rise to it: he does not apply colours, rather his impasto technique condenses paint to spawn bodies. Ming does not narrate, but immerses us in the profundity of his and our own emotions, plumbing the depths of our existence” (Rolf Lauter cited in: Exh. Cat., Mannheim, Kunsthalle Mannheim, Yan Pei-Ming: The Way of the Dragon, 2004-05, p. 6).