Lot 411: Shi Xinning , b. 1969 The Beatles oil on canvas

signed and dated 2005 ; signed and dated 2005 on the reverse oil on canvas

120 by 200.5cm.; 47¼ by 79in.

The Red Mansion Foundation, London
Acquired directly from the above in 2006

Part of the artist's celebrated 'Utopian Stories' series which he began in 2000, the present work featuring an idealized, energetic Mao in the company of the Beatles, examines the infiltration of traditional Eurocentric symbolism with China's isolationist past. Far from fulfilling the retrogressive nationalistic ideals often associated with Chinese contemporary painting, in fact, amongst all the genres within contemporary Chinese art, none perhaps is more deeply embedded in the visual memory of the West than Shi Xinning's 'Utopian Stories'. By satirically catapulting Chairman Mao alongside the Beatles - emblematic figures whose memory rooted in the Western collective conscience - the artist emphasizes the import and omnipresence of Western cultural referents in 20th century Chinese society, whilst also making a sharp commentary on the nature of China's growing international resonance. Often comparing his approach to that of a film director, Shi Xinning frequently uses newspaper cuttings as the sources for his 'Utopian Stories'; an act which both anchors them to reality and gives them their distinctive grisaille palette. From the readymade source, Shi Xinning develops his narratives, substituting objects or people in the original with his own selections. "I almost always work with a staging of completely incompatible props and scenery," explains the artist "... I am not interested in Mao Tse-tung as a real person. Today, Mao is still an icon in China. He is omnipresent; he defined my childhood and the lives of my parents. I never show him in the real context of the 60s or 70s. I present him as a visual memory." Shi Xinning