Lot  18 Ravenel Spring Auction 2008

Ravenel Spring Auction 2008

Precious Peach Garden

KUO Wei-kuo (Taiwanese, 1960)

2003

Oil on canvas

130 x 162 cm

Estimate

TWD 850,000-1,300,000

HKD 217,900-333,300

USD 29,300-44,800

Sold Price

TWD 3,068,000

HKD 787,474

USD 100,904


Signature

Signed lower right Kuo. W. K in English and dated 2003.12

ILLUSTRATED:


Diagram of Commotion and Desire-Towards a Bright Start from the Deep Forest, Lin & Keng Gallery, Inc., Taipei, 2005, color illustrated, p. 28

The painting is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei.

+ OVERVIEW

Few years ago, Kuo Wei-guo picked up the children and drove them for his wife's kindergarten day after another. For an artist who had received New Artist award from Lion Fine Arts, that kind of life was indeed a certain frustration but he had no choice. Kuo wanted to struggle himself into the international art scene or biannual exhibitions in Taiwan with no doubts, but being himself at that moment, the only thing he could do is to ask himself repeatedly: "Who am I?" By questioning "who he is", Kuo started to paint himself as the main figure in his paintings, he covered himself with animal skins or holding properties, sometimes himself with long ears, nose or backed with angel wings, these pictures may seems bizarre at first look but they are actually very similar to the roles plays between teenagers. In "Precious Peach Garden", Kuo dressed himself as Sun Wu Kong of the traditional Chinese folktale; he stumbled into Queen Mother's peach garden and ate those peaches without restrains. In the painting, he is half naked and dressed ridiculously; it could be his different kind of interpretation of the world, and of the relationship between people. Maybe we could say that this is the most sincere and honest attitude in the artist's mind, it's a reality, desire and imagination the artist kept within deeply and never reveals easily to the rest. "The Hero" doesn't have to be handsome or tall, the true hero to Kuo is himself in his paintings.

Related Info

The 20th & 21st Century Chinese Art Japanese & Korean Contemporary Art

Ravenel Spring Auction 2008

Sunday, June 1, 2008, 12:00am