Wu, Shanzhuan (*1960 Zhoushan China) - Motiv aus "From today no water", Farblithografie, in Blei signiert und datiert (19)99, ca. 50 x 70 cm, unter Glas gerahmt
Wu, Shanzhuan (*1960 Zhoushan China) - Motiv aus "From today no water", Farblithografie, in Blei signiert und datiert (19)99, ca. 50 x 70 cm, unter Glas gerahmt
WU SHANZHUAN (B. 1960) Untitled (Complete Physical) signed in Chinese, dated ’07.’ (lower right) ink on paper70 x 137 cm. (27 1/2 x 53 7/8 in.) Painted in 2007seven seals of the artisttwo seals of Lu Peng
Vase object of painted ceramics Germany, 1994 Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) – Chinese artist Edition of the Tao Restaurant, Hamburg With a certificate of the publisher, there numbered ‘21/43’ and stamped ‘Red Humour International’ Dimensions: 47 cm high, 33.8 cm diameter Very good condition Edition based on 100-year-old Chinese food vases Condition: The vase object is in overall very good condition. It measures 47 cm in height and has a diameter of 33.8 cm. Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) Wu Shanzhuan was born in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and he is a graduate of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Being a leading figure of the Chinese Conceptual Movement of the 1980s, Wu was one of the first in China to incorporate words with a reference to pop art into his works. Some of his most famous works are the installation Red Humour International (1986) and Selling Shrimps. In the late 1980s he moved to Europe, where he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After living for more than ten years in Germany and Iceland, the artist is now a resident of Shanghai. A large retrospective of his work was hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2008. (fea) Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
Vase object of painted ceramics Germany, 1994 Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) – Chinese artist Edition of the Tao Restaurant, Hamburg With a certificate of the publisher, there numbered ‘21/43’ and stamped ‘Red Humour International’ Dimensions: 47 cm high, 33.8 cm diameter Very good condition Edition based on 100-year-old Chinese food vases Condition: The vase object is in overall very good condition. It measures 47 cm in height and has a diameter of 33.8 cm. Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) Wu Shanzhuan was born in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and he is a graduate of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Being a leading figure of the Chinese Conceptual Movement of the 1980s, Wu was one of the first in China to incorporate words with a reference to pop art into his works. Some of his most famous works are the installation Red Humour International (1986) and Selling Shrimps. In the late 1980s he moved to Europe, where he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After living for more than ten years in Germany and Iceland, the artist is now a resident of Shanghai. A large retrospective of his work was hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2008. (fea) Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
India Ink on paper China, 2000 Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) – Chinese artist From the series ‘Today No Water’ Sheet dimensions: 137 x 68 cm Frame: 143.5 x 74.3 cm Very good condition From the visual novel titled ‘Today No Water: The Power of Ignorance’ Estimate by Auctionata Expert: 8,000 Euro In his visual novel ‘Today No Water: The Power of Ignorance’, comprised of several ‘chapters’, Wu Shanzhuan, who is one of the first conceptual Chinese artists of the 1980s, refers to the pop art movement with words of symbolic character. Phrases floating freely on the sheet, a combination of Western and Eastern allegories, arouse free connotations. Condition: The work is in very good condition. It is mounted on textile. The frame with mends in two places. The sheet measures 137 x 68 cm and the dimensions of the frame are 143.5 x 74.3 cm. Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) Wu Shanzhuan was born in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and he is a graduate of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Being a leading figure of the Chinese Conceptual Movement of the 1980s, Wu was one of the first in China to incorporate words with a reference to pop art into his works. Some of his most famous works are the installationRed Humour International (1986) andSelling Shrimps. In the late 1980s he moved to Europe, where he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After living for more than ten years in Germany and Iceland, the artist is now a resident of Shanghai. A large retrospective of his work was hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2008. (tm) Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
Vase object of painted ceramics Germany, 1994 Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) – Chinese artist Edition of the Tao Restaurant, Hamburg With a certificate of the publisher, there numbered ‘21/43’ and stamped ‘Red Humour International’ Dimensions: 47 cm high, 33.8 cm diameter Very good condition Edition based on 100-year-old Chinese food vases Estimate by Auctionata Expert: 5,000 Euro Condition: The vase object is in overall very good condition. It measures 47 cm in height and has a diameter of 33.8 cm. Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) Wu Shanzhuan was born in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and he is a graduate of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Being a leading figure of the Chinese Conceptual Movement of the 1980s, Wu was one of the first in China to incorporate words with a reference to pop art into his works. Some of his most famous works are the installation Red Humour International (1986) and Selling Shrimps. In the late 1980s he moved to Europe, where he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After living for more than ten years in Germany and Iceland, the artist is now a resident of Shanghai. A large retrospective of his work was hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2008. (fea) Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
India ink on paper China, 2000 Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) – Chinese artist From the series ‘Today No Water’ Sheet dimensions: 137.5 x 68.5 cm Frame: 144 x 75 cm Very good condition From the visual novel titled ‘Today No Water: The Power of Ignorance’ Estimate by Auctionata Expert: 8,000 Euro In his visual novel ‘Today No Water: The Power of Ignorance’, comprised of several ‘chapters’, Wu Shanzhuan, who is one of the first conceptual Chinese artists of the 1980s, refers to the pop art movement with words of symbolic character. Phrases floating freely on the sheet, a combination of Western and Eastern allegories, arouse free connotations. Condition: The work is in very good condition. It is mounted on textile. The frame with mends in two places. The sheet measures 137.5 x 68.5 cm and the dimensions of the frame are 144 x 75 cm. Wu Shanzhuan (b. 1960) Wu Shanzhuan was born in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province and he is a graduate of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou. Being a leading figure of the Chinese Conceptual Movement of the 1980s, Wu was one of the first in China to incorporate words with a reference to pop art into his works. Some of his most famous works are the installationRed Humour International (1986) andSelling Shrimps. In the late 1980s he moved to Europe, where he obtained a master’s degree from the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. After living for more than ten years in Germany and Iceland, the artist is now a resident of Shanghai. A large retrospective of his work was hosted by the Guangdong Museum of Art in 2008. (tm) Shipping costs excl. statutory VAT and plus 2,5% (+VAT) shipping insurance.
WU SHANZHUAN (B. 1960) New Artwork No. 3 signed in Chinese; dated '07' (lower right) acrylic and oil based marker pen on canvas 200 x 300 cm. (78 3/4 x 118 1/8 in.) Painted in 2007
WU SHANZHUAN (B. 1960) Today No Water - Chapter 30 signed in Chinese; dated '07' (lower left) acrylic and oil based marker on canvas 200 x 300 cm. (78 3/4 x 118 1/8 in.) Painted in 2007
WU SHANZHUAN (B. 1960) Today No Water - Chapter 29 signed in Chinese; dated '06' (lower right) acrylic and oil based marker on canvas 198.5 x 296.2 cm. (78 1/8 x 116 5/8 in.) Painted in 2006
Today No Water-Chapter 30, 2007 Acrylic and oil based marker on canvas. 200 x 300 cm. (78 3/4 x 118 1/8 in). Signed and dated ‘Wu Shanzhuan 07' lower left and on the reverse.
B. 1960 A SHADOW FUCKER A SHADOW FUCKER 56 1/2 by 31 1/2 by 81 1/2 in. 143.5 by 80 by 207 cm. This work is number 2 from an edition of 3. mixed media (acrylic and fluorescent light) Executed in 2001. PROVENANCE Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York Acquired by the present owner from the above EXHIBITED New York, Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, Today No Water, October -December, 2001 LITERATURE Wu Shanzhuan and Inga Svala Thórsdóttier, monograph, Wu Shanzhuan: Red Humour International, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 224-225, illustrated in color
B. 1960 TO BUY IS TO CREATE 78 3/4 by 118 1/8 in. 200 by 300 cm. signed and dated 2006 on the reverse acrylic on canvas PROVENANCE Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong
B. 1960 TO BUY IS TO CREATE (5 PANELS) overall: 94 1/2 by 236 1/4 by 6 in. 240 by 600 by 15 cm. plexiglass and fluorescent light tubes Executed in 2005 and 2006. PROVENANCE Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong EXHIBITED Guangzhou, Guangdong Museum of Art, The Second Guangzhou Triennial: BEYOND: an extraordinary space of experimentation for modernization, November 2005 - January 2006 Hangzhou, Liu He Underground Carbarn, Fable: Contemporary Chinese Art Exhibition, October - November, 2005 NOTE Wu Shanzhuan's International Red Humour was among the most celebrated series of artworks in the "1985 New Wave" movement. And since that time, Wu's various performances, conceptual installations and paintings relating to ideology and economy, cultural identity, the body and politics, have established him as a consistent pioneer of radical new sensibilities. The wide range of Wu's work -- by turns impenetrable, hilarious, and epiphanic -- revolves around several key concepts in relation to which the artist generates successive thematic iterations. As such, and in a manner reminiscent of Duchamp, individual works of art operate within a field of references and relationships, which complicates the apparently straightforward and confounds the quick-take view. It seems simple enough: a billboard-sized signed reads in Chinese "To Buy is to Create" when illuminated by its backlit fluorescent lights (Lot 172). The abstract image of a barcode covers the sign's five Plexiglas panels. And emblazoned at the bottom of the work, the numbers of the barcode are those of Wu Shanzhuan's mobile telephone. A painting of the same design (Lot 173) is Technicolor makes the same straightforward proclamation. What is the meaning of this slick piece of artist's advertising? Is it really an invitation? Or is it an admonition? Or perhaps a philosophical position, one that radically re-envisions our relationship to the world of goods? The peculiar, ambiguous position of both viewer and artist in To Buy is to Create derives from Wu's drive to short-circuit and expose for critical reflection the standard, 'natural' flow of the political economy of objects, that is, their status as commodities. But these most recent manifestations of his influential practice have a conceptual genealogy extending back more than a decade, when Wu conducted his performances Big Business (Selling Shrimps) in the infamous China/Avant-Garde exhibition at Beijing's National Gallery in 1989. Thirty kilograms of shrimp from the artist's hometown of Zhoushan was sold in the museum's galleries is sly protest of the institutional system that adjudicates the value of works of art. Subsequent performances and installations would see the artist selling a variety of 'products': himself as an artist-product (Selling Oneself at Large, 1990), the right to exhibit a Wu work of art (A Labourer of Rotterdam, 1992), toy pandas (Missing Bamboo, 1993), and Chinese real estate (Showing China from its Best Sides '95 - The Real Estate, 1995) in collaboration with the artist's partner, Inga Svala Thórsdóttir). Just as the concept of the artist as buyer/seller is an early theme is Wu's work, so the ubiquitous barcode makes an early entry as conceptual variable. Making a verb of 'supermarket' the artist creates Supermarked Money in 1992, which features a green and white product barcode collaged upon the face of a US $10 bill, as though the product is identical with its own 'marked' exchange value. The supermarket itself soon becomes an all-too-real fantasy land for the circulation of the artist's imagination amidst the plentitude of commodities on offer. From April 16 to 20 of 1992, Wu executed A Shopping is a Creation with Thórsdóttir, a performance consisting of retrieving money from the bank, shopping at the supermarket, queuing in line and paying the cashier, cooking dinner at home, and throwing away the rubbish. A related conceptual drawing reflects upon this performance, questioning the nature of artistic practice and the role of the artist and acknowledging in its title Inga and Wu did not create the things they bought. The photograph Paradises of 1993 seems to crystallize this phase of Wu and Thórsdóttir's investigations. In this work they assume the position of Adam and Eve in a famous 1504 woodcut by Albrecht Dürer. Nude (or, rather, naked), without fig leafs, in the vegetables and fruits section of a "German super-market," Wu's left hand rests upon a shopping cart as Inga, playing Eve, extends the bitten apple towards him. If there is a character playing the snake in this symbolic image, Wu's erect penis is a less likely candidate than the prominently positioned shopping cart itself. The fruit of knowledge in this "supermarked" Paradise is allegorically reconfigured as the fruit of consumption, insatiable desire. The aforementioned works are of particular significance for To Buy is to Create. Indeed, in an unpublished letter titled "About To Buy is to Create," Wu Shanzhuan catalogs this very genealogy chronologically, concluding with the following entries: "2005, in Hangzhou I made the lightbox To buy it To Create. Light enters, to buy is to create. 2006, I made an acrylic painting called To Buy is to Create. Color enters, to buy is to create. Wu Shanzhuan, International Red Humor, July 23, 2006."i One surmises from the purposefully ambiguous grammar that, in the artist's conception, the light and colors activate the respective works, mesmerizing the consumer with their billboard aesthetics and setting their conceptual charge in motion like the revolution of a Duchamp Roto-relief. But in the logic of each work, the viewer/consumer is also the creator/buyer, the collector/buyer is the artist/maker, with Wu positioning himself as middleman (or mirror) in the exchange. The artwork does not so much equivocate in its meaning as rapidly oscillate between apparently opposite poles. And it is this oscillation that acts as a sort of illuminating generator; the brilliance of To Buy is to Create is that it is simultaneously a critique and an embrace of its own commodity status. Wu's recent letter does not draw our attention to a two-sided A4 sketch from 1991 entitled On Supermarket. "I Love supermarket," the drawing's header reads, "No place for ART but Supermarket." Reiterated on both sides of the sketch is the concept of the supermarket as gallery and a drawing for what Wu designates as "famous painting." The 'famous painting' with a 'great number' that Wu sketches is a painting of a barcode that closely resembles the present works. Wu had already visualized the basic concept of To Buy is to Create fifteen years ago. That he only now puts the developed works into circulation suggests a well-calculated site- and time-specificity that is not without its performative dimension. Wu Shanzhuan's red humor continues. i Personal communication with the author.
B. 1960 TODAY NO WATER 55 1/8 by 63 in. 140 by 160 cm signed and titled in English and dated 2005 oil-based marker on canvas LITERATURE Wu Shanzhuan and Inga Svala Thorsdottir, monograph, Red Humor International, Asia Art Archive, Hong Kong, 2005 NOTE Wu Shanzhuan's Red Humor International was one of the most celebrated series of artworks to come out of the 1985 New Wave movement. Since then his various performances, conceptual installations and paintings relating to ideology, economy, cultural identity, body and politics have established him as the pioneer of a new sensibility. Today No Water is Wu's most elaborate series of works. It started in 1986 as an open-ended series of writings and drawings, made with the "democratic" rule that nothing gets edited out. The artist intends the text to be published eventually as a book, while the numerous ideas and drawings are developed into paintings along the way, of which the present work is an excellent recent example.
