Author: JI XIN 季鑫

Size: 126×135cm

Signed and dated: Painted in 2015

Estimate: 100,000 -200,000

Final Price: RMB 320,000

signed in Chinese
EXHIBITED
2015 1+1 Solo Exhibition Series - Ji Xin Twilight Sanshang Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou

Ji Xin's Untitled (Lot 1077) was created in 2015. The prototype of the red sphere in his work comes from Durer's famous copper engraving Melancholy. Melancholy occupies an important position in western culture. Until the Baroque period, melancholy was still regarded as the typical personality of intellectuals. The humanist thoughts expressed in the works of Durer, that is, in that era, the wise men with the spirit of exploration would have a sense of ideological loneliness. The origin of the sphere in the pictures of Durer is unknown, as if it symbolizes a mystery of intelligence.
The image a red sphere has also appeared many times in Ji Xin's paintings. The artist gives this sphere a toy like texture, since it is made of dark red rubber. In his prints, the sphere corresponds to his research on geometry. In Ji Xin's works, the red sphere is not only a weight to balance the picture, but also reveals that the artist constantly adds geometric abstract thinking to the image. Whether the artist likes the image of Giacometti sculpture, or the deep study of Buddhist statues and Lady paintings, all show the artist's consideration of the internal form and humanistic atmosphere.
Ji Xin's creation originated from the study of classical paintings. The creation of Untitled was just at the stage when the artist was looking at himself through a mirror. If it is said that Durer's Melancholy is imbued with the atmosphere of time change on the eve of the German religious reform, then Ji Xin's Untitled (Lot 1077) is a question of how the artist's introverted self relates to classical works in the era of individualism. The three children with different attitudes in the picture are the artist's memories of childhood. Meteors shuttle through the two spheres and buildings, symbolizing the passage of time. Through the organization of this picture, he deliberately disturbs the simple, quiet and classical pictures, and releases the mysterious atmosphere of heterogeneity.