LOT DETAILS

Materials:

Oil, acrylic, mixed media on canvas

Measurements:

51.18 in. (130.00 cm.) (height) by 43.31 in. (110.00 cm.) (width)

Markings:

Signed in English on upper right; titled and signed in Chinese on reverse

Exhibited:

EXHIBITED27 Jun - 7 Jul 2017, Conversation with Japan Contemporary Art, China Cultural Center, Tokyo

Provenance:

PROVENANCEPrivate collection, AsiaTowards the end of the 1980’s, Ng Chung enrolled in the printmaking department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. In 1995, he moved to Hong Kong and laid down roots in Lan Kwai Fong, which marked the beginning of a twenty-year period of foreign life and painting exploration. The influence of the bars, nightclubs, and bohemian lifestyle of Lan Kwai Fang inspired Ng Chung to start creating bar-themed paintings in 1996. Following the turn of the century, he began focusing on liquor bottles as his brand of artistic expression. The unique context of the surrounding Hong Kong area paired with his solid and applicable realistic techniques not only distinguished Ng Chung from mainstream artists on the mainland, but his unique artistic style also allowed him to realize success and stand out among contemporary Hong Kong artist circles.Ng Chung’s bottles serve as representations of the self, from which he can find, understand, and eventually improve himself. This auction’s Bottle 174 is a recent representative work and great achievement of the artist, who served as the delegate for Chinese artists at the Dialogue with Japanese Contemporary Art Exhibition, garnering a great amount of attention.Spiritual ties： self-realization in bottlesIn Bottle 174, four tall bottle shapes stand side-by-side, the black bottles born of large brush strokes, giving them a sense of hard texture. The artist’s use of repeated smearing techniques give signs of aging to the bottles, as they blend into the mottled gray background, bringing out the visual effect of the bottles standing upright. The artist habitually left behind remnants of his repeated changes and smear marks, deliberately breaking up the rigid concept above the bottles. The subjectivity of the painting gives each bottle a different spiritual personality, displaying the artist’s understanding of the spiritual temperament and characteristics of expressionist painting.Famous Italian artist Giorgio Morandi has also used various types of bottles as a motif of his artwork, creating calm and introverted paintings to bring harmony and calmness to the mind during times of war. By comparison, Ng Chung’s bottles are richer in humanity, brimming with the desire, restlessness, and absentmindedness, an epitome of life in Lan Kwai Fang. In Bottle 174, the emerald green and light orange blocks on the mouth of the bottle give it the impression of colored liquids gushing out of the dark black bottles. The artist uses the bottle mouth as a metaphor for an outpouring of emotions, with such emotions buried deep down inside the bottles. The bottles are used by the artist as a window of observation into the world, the darkness inside the calm exterior of the bottles shining light upon reality.During the process of painting the bottles, Ng Chung sought out the freest painting methods. He succeeded in integrating the entirety of the self into the painting, following the guidance of his feelings towards life and the spirit of pure art. Each one of the bottles are filled with the cathartic temptations and insights of life as well as the trajectory of a life lived, allowing viewers to simultaneously witness a painting full of personality and his attitude of always staying true to himself.