(born in Nanyang, China in1970)
The Square, 2004, signed in Chinese and dated on the reverse, oil on canvas, 200 x 250 cm, on stretcher

This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity of the artist.

Provenance:
acquired directly from the artist by the former owner
Christies, 7 February 2008, lot 428
acquired from the above by the present owner –
Private Collection, Great Britain

Literature:
Yin Zhaoyang 1997 – 2007, Beijing: Star Gallery, 2008, ill.

The young painter Yin Zhaoyang graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and in 2002, after he was able to move into a large studio, created what was, in his own words, a "collage of ideals". These include Mao Zedong, Tiananmen Square, the Red Flag, and the Monument to the People's Heroes. Through this work, the artist seeks a confrontation with the revolutionary ideals that had a lasting impact on his youth. The result conveys a certain nostalgia, but also has a strong pictorial presence. (...)

The present work was created in 2004, a night painting dominated by the colour red. In the painting, the infinitely wide space shown from an elevated vantage point is teeming with anonymous figures. The artist deliberately uses central perspective to symbolise the centralisation of political power. The lights in the nocturnal image immerse the square in the cheerful atmosphere of a folk festival. The colours reflect the artist's antagonistic feelings of melancholy and optimism

. Mahjong, Chinesische Gegenwartkunst aus der Sammlung Sigg, exh. cat. Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, 2007.