Lot  025 Ravenel Spring Auction 2023

Ravenel Spring Auction 2023

State of Being (Windows)

Chiharu SHIOTA (Japanese, 1972)

2021

Metal frame, windows and thread

45(L) x 80(W) x 120(H) cm

Estimate

TWD 4,200,000-6,500,000

HKD 1,091,000-1,688,000

USD 139,200-215,400

CNY 955,000-1,477,000

Sold Price


Signature

Initialed lower right CS.

PROVENANCE
Galerie Templon, Brussels

EXHIBITED
Chiharu Shiota - Living Inside, Galerie Templon, Brussels, May 27 - July 17, 2021
This lot is accompanied with a certificate of authenticity issued by Galerie Templon, Brussels.

+ OVERVIEW

Chiharu Shiota was born in Osaka, Japan in 1972. In 1996, she entered the University of Hamburg in Germany, where she studied under Marina Abramovic, a pioneer of performance art, and received guidance from German artist Rebecca Horn. She uses "materials'' to connect three dimensional space, blurring the boundaries between reality and illusion, repeatedly polishing the scars left by time and history, and expressing the limits of personal spirit through artistic performance. Having experienced World War II and the division of East and West Germany, the large-scale reconstruction of wartime ruins after the fall of the Berlin Wall has greatly influenced post-war art in Germany. Artists have been contemplating the spirit of creation and the materials used between destruction and rebirth. Starting from around 2004, Shiota began to collect windows from abandoned buildings and explore the symbolism of "windows" as a representation of the boundary between internal and external spaces. Windows also symbolize "memory" and serve as a passage connecting the past and the future. The large-scale installation "Inside - Outside," created in 2008, is composed of hundreds of old window frames, inviting viewers to reflect on the history of Berlin together. In 2009, Shiota's exhibition "A Room of Memory" was shown at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. The exhibition featured a tower made of glass windows, where internal visitors' sight were blurred and merged within the outsider's vision on the translucent glass. The artwork "State of Being (Windows)" was created in 2021, and it uses red thread as a metaphor for interpersonal connections (blood), tightly winding around a square metal frame. Suspended within the frame are two windows, one large and one small, creating a unique and independent space that concentrates the artist's interpretation of existence.

Chiharu Shiota's preference for deep red can be traced back to her graduation work from Kyoto Seika University in 1994, titled "From DNA to DNA," and the art project "Becoming Painting," which was completed in the same year. The strong infectious power of deep red threads, combined with its symbolism of "Connection" in traditional Japanese culture, further reinforces Shiota's unique artistic style. Shiota's large-scale spatial installations and woven sculptures made of threads have established a strong impression among collectors. The works convey a surreal and gloomy atmosphere, with ready-made objects such as dresses, scales, brass instruments, keys, guitars, and book pages intertwined with the core axis of spider webs. Similarly, the upcoming artwork "The State of Being (Windows)" also revolves around the theme of the state of existence. Since 2013, Chiharu Shiota's sculpture installations have begun to appear in international auctions. With over 25 years of artistic career, Shiota has held almost ten solo exhibitions per year since 2012, and her works have been invited to numerous group exhibitions. Representing Japan at the Venice Biennale in 2015 and exhibiting her works around the world for decades, her artwork has frequently appeared at art fairs in Asia since 2019, and the volume and amount of auction transactions have clearly increased year by year. In 2021, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum held a large retrospective exhibition titled "Chiharu Shiota: The Soul Trembles". The exhibition revolved around six large-scale installations, accompanied by woven sculptures, video recordings of the creative process, photography, original manuscripts, and valuable materials related to stage design, which sparked a huge response and resonance throughout Taiwan. It is evident that Chiharu Shiota remains highly active in the art world, with solo exhibitions scheduled in 2023 at the Aros Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Denmark, the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the MACAN Museum in Jakarta
Related Info

Select: Modern & Contemporary Art

Ravenel Spring Auction 2023

Saturday, June 3, 2023, 4:00pm