A new record for artist Zao Wou-Ki at Christie’s
Zao Wou-Ki’s painting 29.01.64 sold at Christie’s Asian 20th Century & Contemporary Art sale in Hong Kong for a whopping HK$ 202.6 million ($26 million) on Saturday, beating the artist’s previous auction record, which stood at HK$ 152.9 million ($19 million).
The late painter, who was born in Beijing in 1920, moved to Paris in 1940, where he became an internationally acclaimed artist. Influenced by both Impressionism and Abstract Expressionism, Zao Wou-Ki’s paintings lean towards abstraction. In 1957, the artist began incorporating elements of Chinese calligraphy in his paintings, for which he is most famous today. More on the artist via Christie’s.
Zao Wou-Ki, 29.01.64. Courtesy Christie's.
Artists withdraw from censored Kuala Lumpur Biennale
Just ahead of the opening of the first Kuala Lumpur Biennale at the National Visual Arts Gallery (NVAG) of Malaysia on November 23, seven artists withdrew from the biennial, following the local police’s seizure of the artwork Under Construction, an installation created by five Malaysian artists from the group Pusat Sekitar Seni and two Indonesian artists from Population Project.
The installation, which called attention to the environmental issues faced by Southeast Asia, was confiscated for containing “elements of communism” after the Malaysian police received complaints from visitors of the exhibition. Read more on ArtAsiaPacific.
Installation view, Under Construction at the Kuala Lumpur Biennale.
