Lot  228 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Taipei

Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Taipei

Girl with Blue Turban

LUO Zhongli (Chinese, 1948)

1988

Oil on canvas

80 x 63 cm

Estimate

TWD 6,000,000-8,000,000

HKD 1,596,000-2,128,000

USD 205,600-274,200

CNY 1,412,000-1,882,000

Sold Price

TWD 7,800,000

HKD 2,119,565

USD 273,684

CNY 1,784,897


Signature

Signed lower center luo zhong li in English, Lou in Chinese

PROVENANCE
Acquired directly from the artist by the persent owner

+ OVERVIEW


The famous Chinese contemporary oil painter Luo Zhongli became highly acclaimed in the Chinese painting community with his hyper realistic artwork titled Father during the 1980s of the 20th century. In fact, Luo Zhongli’s artworks provide us with a reference of survival and a lasting model of social interaction. In this way, the farmer’s life in Daba Mountains transcends regional landscape and becomes a reflection on ethos and value models during the process of modernization. Instead of only being a “farmer painter,” Luo Zhongli is a contemporary artist who uses different regional cultural resources to express an urban intellectual’s realistic attitudes and value concepts on contemporary living.

“It is worthwhile to spend a lifetime creating native soil art.” —Luo Zhongli

Luo Zhongli finds wonders in repetitions. Every piece of artwork on the farmer theme is charmingly appealing. The exaggerated body posture and facial expression undisguisedly demonstrate the simplicity and sincerity of a farmer’s life. The content of these “story-like tension” is built on Luo Zhongli’s experiences and talents since teenage years.

During the 1990s, Luo focused on changing and developing his personal language and artistic style. He also experimented with artistic languages in exploration of an artistic style that contains contemporary cultural features and oriental aesthetics at the same time. His painting style gradually transitioned from realism to deformation and exaggeration. With his paintbrushes, Luo created many exaggerated, deformed paintings of Daba Mountains farmers by freestyle lines and colors. After the 1980s, Lou’s painting style transformed from being realistic to deformed and exaggerated. He used “simple” and “sincere” styles of expression to call on people to respect and love this simple, warm-hearted life connotation.

Through the long period of artistic exploration, the painter's inspirations from the general population continue to point his artistic endeavors towards the rural villages. At the same time, his own art is infused with a farmer-like simplicity of emotions. The subjects of Luo Zhongli's paintings show no traces of having been idealized or glorified. Instead, they retain the purity of their image and the strong sense of everyday Ba-Shu culture. The simple nature of the characters as well as the down-to-earth use of colors, along with the unique treatment of lighting and detailed paintwork have together achieved a perfect union of content and format. "Girl with Blue Turban" shows that the artist's creative images no longer rely on the context but instead excel in the depiction of characters and the expression of atmosphere. This means it has gradually evolved into related artistic symbols so the audience realizes the inconsistencies in how civilization has developed and responds to the spiritual need to return to one's roots.
Related Info

Modern & Contemporary Art

Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Taipei

Sunday, December 6, 2020, 2:00pm