Zhou Chunya

Acquired by the present owner directly from the artist

Jakarta, Indonesia National Gallery, Green Dog - Zhou Chunya, January, 2008

This work is in very good condition overall. There is a very small protrusion in the canvas in the left part of the bottom edge just below the left dog's paw, due to the stretcher behind. The fare edges of the work, where the canvas wraps around the stretcher, are very slightly darkened. Otherwise there are no visible condition problems. The work was not examined under UV light.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Born in Chongqing, Zhou Chunya was trained at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts from 1977 to 1982.  Traveling in the early 80's to Tibet (with fellow artist Zhang Xiaogang), Zhou subsequently pursued further education at the Gesamthochschule in Kassel, Germany, from which he received a master's degree in 1989.  Having embraced expressionist painting while in Germany, Zhou's interests turned to traditional Chinese ink and brush painting once back in his homeland—particularly the paintings of idiosyncratic or eccentric masters such as Bada Shanren (c. 1626-1705).  Zhou's painting is thus an amalgamation of different traditions and stylistic vocabularies deployed towards specific subject matter.  For example, Zhou's early 1990's Stones series rendered traditional garden stones or scholar's rocks in the language of expressive, almost abstract oil paint; similarly, his Floral series of the same period references traditional bird and flower paintings, although in medium and gesture they seem more akin to Impressionist still-lifes or mid-20^th century gestural abstractions. 

Throughout his career, Zhou has tended to eschew trends in favor of pursuing his own independent style and subject matter.  He has no interest in the political and cultural symbolism that many of his generation have used in their work.  And yet, Zhou, too, has developed his own iconic imagery through the repeated form of a bright green dog.  The Green Dog series was originally inspired by the artist's pet dog Heigen, a German shepherd the artist was given in 1994.  Heigen makes frequent appearances in Zhou's paintings of the mid-'90's, but it was not until 1997 that Zhou turned to a bright bold green for his improbable depiction of the animal.  Often featuring a single green German shepherd, the expressively painted and—from one canvas to the next—varied poses constitute an extended study of the canine form; the animal's head is often oversized, creating a striking, cartoonish effect.  While Zhou's dog "portraits" were initially based upon the artist's deep fondness for his new companion, over the course of more than a decade, the animal form has become simply a matrix upon which Zhou repeatedly demonstrates his painterly skills. 

The very large work on offer, Two TT (2007), shows two seated German shepherds in profile, posed looking in opposite directions; they seem to share their rump, as though they were canine Siamese twins.  While Zhou's characteristic green continues to infiltrate the picture and define its predominate tonal range, the artist here moves towards a more mimetic representation of the surfaces of his furry subject (or subjects).  Blacks, browns, and tans of a wider range than usual lend a more realistic appearance to the canine sitter(s).  But the oversized heads, dangling pink tongues, and marvelously abstract brushwork from Zhou's past dogs still remain.  Zhou's painting method seems fast and wet, purposefully sloppy in its drippy expressiveness.  Despite his presto painterly tempo and many distortions of canine physiognomy, however, Two TT brilliantly captures familiar dog poses in what is quintessentially Zhou's hand.  Zhou's idiosyncratic body of work is, more than anything, an ongoing performance of the artist's impressive mastery of the medium.