Zao Wou-Ki

Kootz Gallery, New York

Private Collection (acquired directly from the above circa 1962 and sold: Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 5 October 2014, Lot 1015)

Important Private Asian Collection (acquired directly from the above sale)

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紐約，庫茲畫廊

私人收藏（於約1962年購自上述來源，並售於：香港，蘇富比，2014年10月5日，拍品編號1015）

亞洲重要私人收藏（直接購自上述拍賣）

The 1960s were a golden era that witnessed the launch of Zao Wou-Ki’s new Hurricane Period, but the decade also represented a crucial turning point in his exploration of space. During the time he spent in the United States, he was deeply influenced by American Abstract Expressionism. He began to transcend the limitations of two-dimensional painting and create three-dimensional visions through the structure and framing of the image. 25.09.60, offered at Mapping Modernities, a curated Modern Art sale that charts the trajectories of artists who both physically and artistically traversed the globe throughout the 20^th century, is an excellent example of this breakthrough. The composition of this work represents the artist’s explorations of structure and space from this period. 25.09.60 has a tripartite horizontal composition, with powerful, inky thunderbolts dashing from left to right through and across the amber-hued background. The black, white, and grey lines in the middle of 25.09.60 seem to mingle and vibrate in a quiet, sublime way. It is as if they are being pushed by a palette knife into negative space, like a black hole in the universe; they guide the eye down a winding path into the depths, giving the image a physical volume and texture that transcend reality and point to a philosophical, abstract space. Zao once said, “My brush moves freely, and sometimes I use a palette knife to press the paint onto the canvas, as if I wanted the paint to penetrate the space. Amidst chaotic colour and layered brushstrokes, I am calm and at ease… The fierce and intense, the clamorous and passionate have always attracted me much more than the quiet and the stationary. How to conquer space, how to shape and enliven it is a problem that is constantly on my mind.Every day is a new fight, which allows me to highlight my strengths and my needs.” Zao’s use of a palette knife to press the paint into the canvas faintly echoes the work of Lucio Fontana, the master of Spatialism who used a knife to cut into the calm of the canvas to create a new and previously unknown spatial depth.

The colour philosophy of 25.09.60 reflects the breadth and profundity of Eastern culture and represents Zao Wou-Ki’s combination of Western oil painting and Eastern aesthetic doctrine. The deep amber colour that dominates the painting embodies the rough, ever-changing quality of post-war art, and also represents earth and wood in the Eastern conception of the five elements (wuxing). In The Great Meaning of the Five Elements (Wuxing Dayi), Sui dynasty scholar Xiao Ji quoted The Bud of the Original Mandate in the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu yuanming bao), writing, “Earth is related to something that is spit out. There is qi in the earth, which allows for new life to emerge from it.” Thus, earth nurtures all living things. With regard to wood, Xiao Ji also quoted The Bud of the Original Mandate, writing, “Wood is related to touch, because wood grows from its contact with the ground.” Thus, wood represents the vitality of all living things. Zao Wou-Ki pursues the essence of life in 25.09.60, building a natural order that permeates his aesthetic. An audacious Eastern style saturates the entire cycle, from the initial chaos of the universe to the differentiation of living things based on the five elements to their proliferation on the earth. Zao engages with the juxtaposition, collision, and even perfect fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, in order to achieve an all-encompassing vision that draws on the best of both worlds.

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1960年代，是趙無極的繪畫事業開啟「狂草時期」新篇章之黃金時期，亦是其在空間探索上突飛猛進的關鍵轉折點。藝術家此前在美國遊歷之時，深受美國戰後抽象表現主義之影響，從此開始突破二維繪畫的平面局限性，通過畫面結構與框架營造的立體視覺表現，香港蘇富比是次「現代紀」專輯呈獻之《25.09.60》即為其中典範之一。本畫畫面代表藝術家此階段探索空間的重要結構線索，呈現水平的三段式構圖，強勁有力的墨色雷霆般由左至右深入、貫穿琥珀色背景，中段的黑、白、灰三色線條相互交融、徐徐顫動，靜謐而崇高，彷彿被畫刀壓入畫面的負向空間，如同宇宙黑洞般將視線導向曲徑幽深處，使畫面超越現實中的物理體積與質量感，直指哲學性的抽象空間概念，如其所言：「我大筆揮灑，有時用畫刀把顏料壓進畫布，像要使顏料能更穿透到空間中去，在紛亂的色彩和重重架疊的筆觸間，我從容自在……強烈的和喧囂的對我的吸引力遠過於靜默。征服空間成了我腦子裡日夜縈繞的問題，給我許多挑戰。每一天，是一場新的戰鬥，讓我能點亮我的力量和我的要求。」而此番宛如畫刀將顏料壓穿畫布之佈局，隱然呼應意大利空間主義大師封塔納，用刀劃破畫面之平靜，直指深遠處延展全新的未知空間。

《25.09.60》的色彩哲學亦展現了東方文化之博大精深，是趙無極結合西方油彩的運用並回顧東方美學教義的代表，主導畫面濃郁的琥珀色帶有戰後藝術粗曠和滄桑的氣息，同時對應東方「五行」學說中的「土」與「木」元素，隋朝學士蕭吉在其著論《五行大義》中引《春秋元命苞》云：「土之為言吐也。 含吐氣精，以生於物」，「土」是指「孕育」萬物之意；「木」，蕭吉引《元命苞》曰：「木者，觸也。 觸地而生」，代表萬物始出之「生機」。由此可見，趙無極在《25.09.60》中追尋生命的要義，建立穿透美學的自然秩序：由最初宇宙混沌，到依據五行的萬物分化，萬物生靈的生生之意毫無遮掩地顯現於東方氣韻中，將東西文化並置、碰撞、乃至完美融合，而最終達到包羅萬象，博取眾長之境界。