Contemporary Asian Art – Lijun from to Murakami

The selection of contemporary Asian art is characterised by great curiosity and desire for visual challenges in relation to new art, especially from China, which underwent major social changes in the 1990s and saw the emergence of a market economy as well as a diverse art scene. The works reflect contemporary society and history from both personal and more general perspectives while making connections between traditional East Asian aesthetics and the diverse range of styles of International Modernism – especially Neo-realism and Pop Art. The term "Cynical Realism" is used about Chinese art of this period, which often takes a humorous and ironic look at the challenges and shadier aspects of society’s development from Communism towards rising individualisation, industrialisation and commercialism.

Fang Lijun’s Poetic Butterflies and Stinging Insects

Among the principal works in the auction, particular mention should be made of the painting “No. 4” (2008) by Fang Lijun (b. Handan, China, 1963), which is estimated at DKK 2 million (€ 270,000). It is a work of sophisticated ambiguity. At a distance, the composition appears delicate, poetic, sensuous and dreamlike. Colourful butterflies flutter gently above the composition. On closer inspection, though, it becomes apparent that the golden, flowing structures surrounding the figure in the painting are in fact ropes, and the butterflies are accompanied by stinging insects. Is the person moving up towards the light or being pulled down?

Chen Wenling’s Shadier Side and Yue Minjun’s Smile

The bronze sculpture “China Today” (2006) by Chen Wenling (b. Quanzhou, China, 1969) is another of the auction’s main features. Wenling’s works are often grotesque depictions of people, exposing the shadier sides of human nature and morality. Perhaps the best-known name in "Cynical Realism", Yue Minjun (b. Heilongjiang, China, 1962), is represented by a series of double lithographs, “Smile-isms” (2006), in which the artist’s distinctive smiling portraits are contrasted with canonical works from art history and pop culture images, as well as traditional quotations about smiling. 

Japanese Pop Aesthetics by Takashi Murakami

With the work “Miss Ko2 – Devil Position 1” (2004) by Takashi Murakami (b. Tokyo, Japan, 1962), we leave China and present for the first time in Denmark an impressive work by Japan’s biggest name in pop art, with a sumptuous visual juxtaposition of Japanese pop aesthetics and Western ideals of beauty in a style that is at once hyper-sexualised and emphatically artificial.

The auction also includes works by artists such as Yang Shaobin (b. Tangshan, China, 1963), He Sen (b. Yunnan, China, 1968), Feng Zhenjie (b. Sichuan, China, 1968), Chen Wenbo (b. Sichuan, China, 1969), Cao Xiaodong (b. Jiangsu, China, 1961), Liu Chunhai (b. Harbin, China, 1966), Wu Tianzheng (b. Taiwan, 1956), Shiho Aeoshima (b. Tokyo, Japan, 1974), Fang Hui (b. Shenyang, China, 1965), Haris Purnomo (b. Indonesia, 1956), Mi Ju (b. South Korea, 1983), and Lu Song (b. Beijing, China, 1982).

Preview and Auction

Auction: 6-7 June in Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen

Preview: 24-28 May at the same address

Art Week Copenhagen

Bruun Rasmussen participates at this year’s Art Week Copenhagen (22-27 May) with a GALLERY WALK & TALK about international contemporary art on Friday 25 May at 6 pm. Here our art experts will talk about the biggest names of the auction, including Fang Lijun, Chen Wenling and Takashi Murakami.

View the selection of Asian contemporary art
Read about how to bid at auction