Author: MAO XUHUI 毛旭辉

Size: 120×90cm；123×90cm；120×90cm

Signed and dated: Painted in 1990

Estimate:

Final Price: RMB 4,200,000

LITERATURE
1990 Painter / P29 / total journal No.13
1991 Jiangsu Pictorial / P24 / total journal No.122
1993 CHINA’S NEW ART, POST-1989 / P140 / Hanart T Z Gallery
1994 89-94Contemporary Art of China / P198、200 / Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House
2005 Mao Xuhui / P149 & P64 / Xin Dong Cheng Publishing House / Hanart T Z Gallery
2010 Farewell to Trend: The Art of Mao Xuhui / P244 / Culture and Art Publishing House
2015 Portray the Life-Art Archive of Mao Xuhui / P149 &P164 / China Youth Publishing Group
2021 Eternal History: A Retrospective Exhibition of Mao Xuhui’s 40 years 1980-2021 / P58 & P76-77 / Tang Contemporary Art
signed in Chinese and dated 1990
EXHIBITED
1993 CHINA’S NEW ART, POST-1989, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2005 "Vocabulary of power!" Mao Xuhui’s 20-year Work Review Exhibition, Xin Dong Cheng Space For Contemporary Art, Beijing
2010-2011 Farewell to Trend: The Art of Mao Xuhui, Yan-Huang Art Museum, Beijing
2021 Eternal History: A Retrospective Exhibition of Mao Xuhui’s 40 years 1980-2021, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing

The Image History of Mao Xuhui
As modern Western art was introduced to China in the 1980s, younger artists gradually shook off the shackles of thematic realism and used more diversified methods of creation to mirror the changes in their times and personal circumstances. In 1982, Mao Xuhui, who was fresh out of university, visited and was deeply touched by the “Exhibition of German Expressionist Paintings” at the National Culture Palace in Beijing. Three years later, he co-curated the “Neo-Figurative Painting Exhibitied” with Zhang Xiaogang et al., exhibiting a number of expressionist paintings. Later, they formed the Southwest Art Group, which became an important part of the 85 New Wave Movement. Mao Xuhui is regarded as the leader of the Southwest Art Group for his perceptual expressionist style.
Artworks of art by Mao Xuhui in the early 1980s mostly focused on the sense of loneliness and confusion felt by individuals. Mao Xuhui said that “it may be my elder generation, myself, a person from a distant age, or a person who has higher standing than us. He is powerful and even violent, sitting in the dark, in the mysterious time and space, in the ancient passage, and in an awe-inspiring chair. He is bogged down, and is an idol, like a miserable history that is unavoidable.”
The three works created in 1990 shows the ethical order of the frigid Chinese society in the form of Western altarpieces. In A Ruddle Tone Picture of Parent in an Arch, the “parents” are inside a niche similar to a Chinese Buddhist rock cave or a Western church, namely in a position to be adored. The black seat in the red background has a shape similar to the parent in the forefront, indicates that the millennial invisible power structure will always be a stubborn shadow. In the A Picture of Parent in Yellow Tone, there is a profound space, with the blurredly shaped parents in the depths of the narrow passageway.Yellow is a symbol of monarchy, corresponding to the patriarchy represented by the Red Picture of Parents with Arch. Corridor and Stairs at Late Night is placed between the two paintings. The black and white colors are a metaphor for the echelon of power.
The Red Picture of Double Parents created in 2005 represents the continuation and change of the Parents series in the millennium. Mao Xuhui created works on the theme of “Double Parents” in the early 1990s. Although the characters take geometric shapes, the stately feeling of sitting in great state can still be felt. The “throne-style” seat is unique to those paramount and powerful. In terms of colors, the painter features red and yellow, two warm colors with ideological significance. In the overlapping and transition of colors, an intense atmosphere of picture and a strong psychological suggestion gradually take shape.
Following the Parents series, Mao Xuhui turned his attention to daily life. Mao Xuhui began to create “Scissors” series in the early 1990s. In the early “scissors” series, the artist endowed the work with certain philosophy by setting the background, such as the juxtaposition of scissors, chairs, stairs, etc. In the millennium, the artist gradually removed the hints of individual emotions and social criticism in the “scissors” series, and placed a premium on exploring formal language. As Mao Xuhui puts it, “In fact, I think what is important is not to talk about what it will cut, but the feeling about the shape, its meaning and the meaning of shape, rather than the actual meaning.” A Quarter of A Pair of Blue Scissors created in 2002 is the ultimate exploration of the particular image of “scissors”. Instead of the coarse expressive brushstrokes seen in the early paintings, it has soft colors and fine textures. Overall, the extensive use of blue creates an atmosphere of solemn meditation.
Therefore, from the three masterpieces created at different times, we can see that over a span of more than forty years, Mao Xuhui has gradually shifted from perceptual expression to rational thinking, and from individual expression and sociological research to pure ex-ploration of visual lexicon in brilliant art creation.