Lot 40 | 27 November 2022

 

 

LOT 40

SHENG QI

B. China, 1965

Mao – Red and Black, 2007

Signed and dated Sheng Qi 2007 on the verso

Acrylic on canvas

99 x 80 cm

Private Collection, Singapore

RM 7,000 – 15,000

Sheng Qi is an internationally-recognised contemporary Chinese artist famed for his unique body of art and distinctive painting style. Sheng Qi was born in Anhui Province in 1965. He is a talented individual, his talent spanning painting, performance art and photography. Sheng Qi had the best collegiate career, studying in some of the world’s best institutions for art. The artist attended the Central Academy of Art and Design in Beijing and he also lived and worked in Italy for a few years before earning a masters in fine arts from the Central Saint Martin’s Academy of Art and Design in London, England. Sheng Qi is synonymous with personal defiance following the events (student-led demonstration) in Tiananmen, 1989. Distressed by the massacre of the demonstrators by armed troops, Sheng Qi chopped off the pinky on his left hand and buried it in a flowerpot, which remained in Beijing throughout his European exile. Since then, he has woven the image of this self-mutilation into his work. He has been featured in Phaidon’s 500 Self Portraits, The Chinese Art Book and Body of Art alongside contemporary and old masters such as Ai Weiwei, Andy Warhol and Michelangelo. Sheng Qi’s artworks have been collected by prestigious museums such as the Metropolitan in New York and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Sheng’s work is driven by two objectives — to change the direction of where he sees Chinese contemporary art is heading, and simply, to ask questions. His work is daring, tackling unprecedented subjects to make the viewers think, push boundaries and ask questions.