Lot 807: SHI CHONG

SHI CHONG
(Born in 1963)
A Walking Man II
signed, inscribed and dated 'Shi Chong; Hubei Art Academy; 1994' in Chinese (on reverse)
oil on canvas
179 x 79 cm. (71 1/2 x 31 in.)
Painted in 1994

Hubei's Fine Art Publishing House, Shi Chong, Wu Han, China, 2002, p. 78. (illustrated)

Highly regarded for his photo-realist paintings, Shi Chong's work includes people in a variety of situations and forms. Much of his work appears to be photographic and installation-like, but is in fact paintings. Focused heavily on the subject of life, Shi picks out moments from the shifting and changing passages of time and suspends them eternally through paintings.

A Walking Man II (Lot 807) depicts the mould of a decapitated man. Awkwardly poised, the mould is more clinical than erotic, with a melancholy mood that lends the painting towards an empathic meditation on the mortality of the flesh. It is disturbing, repellent and in complete contradiction to what the title suggests, for without a head there can be no direction, no walking man. Shi's craft shows the amalgamation of old-school classicism and contemporary realism, deliberately obliterating any subject from his composition, fashioning an ambiguous image. Though crude in depiction, the execution of this work is surprisingly smooth and flawless.

Shi does not satisfy himself with the contemporary installation he originally executes, rather, in adhering to the words of Cicero, transforms these contemporary works of arts into classical paintings with mastery and skill. He does not conform to current trends, rather, depicts contemporary concepts sticking to classical methods. Shi Chong's construction of his works is precise and methodical. First covering his subject in plaster-mould, he then replicates the mould onto the canvas with slow deliberation and careful execution, revealing realistic representation through perspective and refined brushstrokes.