Auction 175 - 7 March 2020

Provenance acquired directly from the artist by the father of the present owner (approx. 1972)

Provenance Gal. Ado, Bonheiden, acquired there by the present owner in the 70s

Literature To be included in the archives of the Fondation Zao Wou-Ki Provenance Kunstforum, Schelderode (Albert van Wiemeersch), acquired there by the present owner in 1998




ZAO WOU-KI - BALANCED CHAOS

Attraction, abstraction, confusion, but still a distant feeling of recognition: Zao Wou-Ki's atmospheric composition is a mental landscape immersed in light and color that encourages contemplation. Depicted seems an all-embracing life energy overwhelming with its universal timelessness.

The inherent spontaneity and transparency of watercolor enables this work's smooth and fluent elaboration. The particular way in which colors blend with the sheet perfectly visualizes amorphous elements of nature such as fog and light. From the middle bottom, solid brush strokes crawl to the center of the composition. From here, the stains become more and more erratic and fan out to the sides, as if propelled by an invisible force, while some of the more subtle hues dissolve into the depths. Green and brown tones transform, merge, evaporate. White tones bring the composition to peace and balance, like a fog covering the valley. The result is of a picturesque beauty evoking the grandeur of magnificent landscapes, topped with high mountain peaks and trees. Above, the sheet is washed in barely visible colors: emptiness, nothingness.
Divided into two expressive spaces the composition depicts the Chinese spiritual tradition's influence on Zao Wou-Ki. Emptiness and matter are not opposites, but rather complementary, just like air and earth, light and darkness. His compositions are in search of the ever precarious balance between conflicting forces of nature.

In Zao Wou-Ki's dreamy landscape, European lyrical abstraction and traditional Eastern influences come together. Born into a large family of bankers and intellectuals, he showed an early interest in painting, especially in the great masters of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). They already expressed the moral hierarchy between the humble man and grand nature. His passion brings him to Paris in 1948, where the works of Matisse, Cézanne and Picasso make big impression on him. After more than 20 years he returns to his home country where he rediscovers the grandiose Chinese nature. In the 1970s he gradually finds a balance in the symbiosis between East and West.

Literature Mr. Gérard Galby has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work Provenance Gal. Sabine Wachters, Knokke-Heist

Exhibition "Mimmo Rotella. Antologica" Palazzo Lafranchi, Pisa 2001, exhibition cat., p. 301 reprod.
"Mimmo Rotella Cinecittà" Frittelli arte contemporanea, Firenze 2006, exhibition cat., p. 72 & 188 reprod. Provenance private collection, Milano

Provenance private collection, New York
private collection, Los Angeles

Provenance Gal. Ado, Bonheiden, acquired there by the present owner in 1985

Provenance Gal. Guy Pieters, Knokke

Exhibition "Panamarenko. Motors Pastilles" Gal. Ronny Van de Velde, Antwerp 1989
"Panamarenko. Expérimentations" Centre de Création Contemporaine, Tours 1989
"Panamarenko" Gal. Willy D'Huysser, Knokke 1990
"L'Art en Belgique. Flandre et Wallonie au XXe siècle. Un point de vue" Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris 1991, nr. 212
"Panamarenko, de retrospectieve" KMSK, Brussels 2006, exhibition cat., nr. 50 reprod.
"Panamarenko Universum" M HKA, Antwerp 2014-15, exhibition cat., p. 104-105 reprod. Literature "Artstudio" nr. 18, 1990, p. 131
"Panamarenko. A Book by Hans Theys" Published by Frank Van Haecke & Isy Brachot 1992, nr. 157 reprod.