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Concerto-5

Hsiao Chin’s work is part of the wave of abstraction that swept the post-war period. He explores his interest in the universe in his art, but his paintings also reflect his realizations about the circle of life. He said,

“Every stage in life is part of a constant cycle. When you leave here, there’s another space. It’s like a circle, and it’s a realm with neither time nor materiality.”

After his own life and the world changed in the 1990s, he created The Eternal Garden, Passage Through The Great Threshold, and Concerto. The personal experiences reflected in these classic series showed him that the beginning and end of life are nothing more than a change in the form existence takes. With expansive compositions and sweeping, dynamic rhythms, Concerto-5 (Lot 1032) presents a conception of life. Snaking ribbons of vibrant colour make up a brilliant Milky Way, expressing the interrelatedness of the current moment and life’s beginning and end. The difference between the heavenly and the human is only a matter of time, place, and form. When life crosses the great threshold, it enters a vast, possibly infinite realm. Through pure and powerful colours and brushstrokes, he fuses ancient mysticism and philosophies of life with modern abstraction, making a profound impression in the most direct, intuitive way. In 2019, the Musée Guimet in Paris held “Les Couleurs du Zen: Peintures de Hsiao Chin,” which placed the artist’s paintings into dialogue with Asian religious treasures from the museum’s collection and stunned the European art world. Also included in the catalogue printed for the exhibition, Concerto-5 is a classic example of Hsiao Chin’s work.

《協奏—5》

蕭勤的藝術立足戰後抽象的歷史浪潮，不僅呈現探索宇宙的熱情，更蘊含生命循環的感悟。他認為：

「人生每個不同的階段一直都不停地在輪迴著，離開了這裡，還有另一處空間，像似一個圓般，那是一種非時間性、非物質性的境界。」

九○年代，藝術家在歷盡個人與世間變幻之後，創造了「永久的花園」、「度大限」、「協奏」等經典系列，展現自己通過切身體悟，發現生命的始終，實乃存在形式之轉換。《協奏—5》（拍品編號1032）以天高地廣式構圖、大幅度的動態韻律呈現生命的意境；帶狀蜿蜒的燦爛色面若銀河璀璨，表現生命「此際」與「彼端」相互依存、相互轉化的關係。天人之隔不過是時、地、形相之別，當生命跨越大限，即進入舒展與無限的境界。藝術家通過純粹有力的色彩與筆觸，將古典玄學及生命哲學，與現代的抽象觀念轉化融合，以最直觀的呈現深入人心。2019年巴黎吉美亞洲藝術博物館為蕭勤舉行「禪色」大展，與館藏的亞洲宗教文明瑰寶並置對話，一時震撼歐洲藝壇，本作即收錄於為該展特別出版的畫冊，堪稱蕭勤作品之典例。