Author: XIE NANXING 谢南星

Size: 220×325cm

Signed and dated: Painted in 2006

Estimate:

Final Price: RMB 1,400,000

LITERATURE
2008 Xie Nanxing Works：1992-2008/P22-23/Timezone 8 Limited

NOTICE
The work is to be handled and claimed in Hong Kong，China. Please contact Beijing Poly Auction Modern and Contemporary Department Staff for further details.
The work that the artist Xie Nanxing has produced to date may quite possibly make him one of the most striking personalities to emerge from the contemporary art scene in China today. He belongs to a small group of artists whose approach to painting can only be associated with the current perspectives duly prevalent in new Chinese art with a great amount of difficulty perspectives that have come to be attributed to，and even represent，new Chinese painting.
Xie Nanxing consistently avoids depicting a visual world that is in any way typical or easily identifiable，which are factors featuring prominently in the works of such artists as Yue Minjun，Zhang Xiaogang and Fang Lijun. Instead，Xie Nanxing chose to take a path from the very outset of his artistic career that led him to scrutinize the medium of painting very intently to a point that can even be deemed programmatic.
Xie Nanxing’s work reflects his perception of both his artistic identity as well as his personal history. It also expresses his approach to painting，taking all of its various facets and dimensions into account.
Xie Nanxing first garnered international attention in 1999 at the 48th Venice Biennale，where he exhibited extremely drastic paintings，drastic for their depiction of people who，in their state of undress，were both vulnerable and violated. They were displays of unsettling realism. Clearly based on actual photographs，the paintings seemed to evoke，above all，images from cinematic reportage. Particularly when viewed in sequence，they suggest the occurrence of dramatic events and the unfolding of some unknown plot. Unable to reconstruct the plot，viewers are forever left in the dark.
In 2000，Xie Nanxing created a series of large-scale paintings of great intensity. They depict，for example，gas stove flames，an oil stain on a floor，a nondescript room，and the pale glow of a fluorescent tube light. These paintings display great depth on account that the artist applied many thin layers of paint to even the most minute details，causing their surfaces to blur and imbuing them with an inherent density. Viewed from a distance，these paintings have a tremendous effect and viewed close up，they possess the greatest possible amount of diffusion. The immediate surface of a given canvas conceals several surfaces beneath. The photo-realism of the paintings is not apparent until they are viewed from afar. Despite their mundane motifs，an iconic power present in the paintings lodges itself indelibly in the viewer’s mind. One is also inclined to say that the paintings’ sense of density is due solely to the artist’s pictorial process； the blurriness remains with the viewer，and it seems to also be the paintings’ very quintessence. Richter’s use of blurriness may very well have influenced so many young Chinese artists to take an interest in him. A continuation of this tradition，though in his own vein，is present in Xie Nanxing’s work.
Xie Nanxing is fascinated with surfaces，which deftly transform into spaces of microscopic differentiation in his paintings.
In a series from 2001 and 2002，for example，the surface of a screen is the central theme. Here，too，his fascination is for both the light and the material itself，which he applied in extremely thin layers onto the canvas. It is also apparent that these works are more or less based on photographs，though they are never rendered one-to-one. The viewer can ascertain the texture of a screen，the main element in this “surface space”. Beneath this surface，there is film and photographic material that may be trivial，dramatic，or autobiographical. Viewers are never certain of what lurks beneath，for the artist consciously keeps them in a nebulous state. The single concrete thing viewers can grasp is a certain flickering：the painting’s indecisiveness，the fleeting electronic images that have been burned onto the canvas. Xie Nanxing develops this theme further on larger canvases and in an even more striking manner in later works. However，the motifs changed. That which in earlier paintings represented the instance of something burning into the viewer’s mind in later paintings transformed into something akin to an open flame. In his later work，too，depictions remain fleeting and vague，but the subtle presence of the paint itself on canvas serves to heighten what viewers see. An unreal space emerges the flickering of a reality that viewers do not quite know how to place.
Xie Nanxing has also created an antithesis to all of this. In 2006，for example，he made a solid，monochromatic red painting that was done nearly entirely using the impasto technique； in short：a monolith. First and foremost，this painting can be considered a valid contribution to monochrome paintings，a genre that has been treated repeatedly and in different ways throughout modern art history. Xie Nanxing has taken things a step further in this work. The painting does not come across as a heroic act，which is something that underlies many monochromatic works，but instead seems to convey a story that yet again is partly concealed from viewers. The painting tells a story of taciturnity and randomness. It nurtures a secret. It does not depict the various dimensions of any abstract space its opening or measurements. Rather，it evokes the idea of a landscape that also seems linked to calligraphy. The painting is about a surface that is depicting a surface. The marks viewers can just barely discern are traces of dirt，and the painting’s monochromatic aspect viewers experience are ambiguous and random a most extremely Chinese painting indeed.
-Peter Pakesch
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