Guo Jin

Olyvia Oriental, London
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in a very good condition overall. There appears to be a very small rubbing mark in the extreme lower left corner and the canvas is very slightly loose in the lower right corner and can benefit from restretching. Otherwise, there are no visible condition problems. It 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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Guo Jin lives in Chengdu in southwest China, where he participates in a small but lively group of artists who have received international recognition in the last few years. Guo's work is figurative, and he usually paints young children, although their poses and paraphernalia occasionally refer to adult pursuits. Despite the deliberately narrow range of his subject matter—or perhaps because of it—his work offers a broad spectrum of expressive possibilities. Guo's chief interest, however, is not so much the cultural meaning or thematic significance of the images he paints, but rather the techniques of painting itself. Guo marshals a variety of mark-making methods on the surfaces of his paintings, combining splatters, washes, brushstrokes, and palette knife work in a striking manner that is wholly original.

The figures and objects in Guo's paintings are embodied by an impasto that is at once matte and shimmering, capturing the light as it falls onto the painting's surface. In contrast to the rough-hewn surfaces of his youngsters, the often monochromatic backgrounds from which they emerge are flat and smooth. This contrast emphasizes the central figure or figures and the richly-worked surfaces of which they are composed. The ten-year period of Guo Jin's development traced by the works on offer establish him as an artist of genuine skill and magnitude.

In his portrait of a little girl dressed as a PLA soldier (1998), Guo emphasizes the subject's oversized face, and a heavy impasto describes the sitter's broad cheeks and wide-set eyes. Her tiny, crisp uniform and miniature rifle seem in keeping with her auburn pigtails, but the work is less a child portrait than a painterly demonstration; this diminutive figure of authority is set not against the flat, red sun of historical PLA imagery but rather an apparently three-dimensional orb of brilliant, warm hues. Even in this comparatively early work, the avowed subject matter is secondary to the impressive painterly surface. Similarly, in PLA Soldier Boy (1998), a small boy wears a soldier's cap and tunic, his toy rifle neatly slung over his shoulder. Guo covers the entire figure with a scumbled impasto, the effect of which is intensified by the painting's predominately light palette; dramatic lighting from the right renders the right side of the boy's figure a bouquet of pinks, reds, and yellows, although an occasional green, blue or even black captures the play of shadows on the figure's form. More jovial than his female comrade, he looks as though he might break into a smile. Guo's bright yellow background is essentially neutral, providing a flatly-painted contrast to the colors, textures and weight of the paint demarcating the boy.

In La Badinerie No. 1 (1998), two barefoot girls are depicted in the act of play, the title of the work indicating they are amidst a lively dance performance. The pony-tailed figure at right is all but naked and grins mischievously as she holds her right leg with both hands while balancing on her left; a younger girl with short hair wears a simple dress and follows her older companion with outstretched arms. The younger girl seems to be hollering, or perhaps singing along to the music that animates them. Rendered in shades of white and gray, their hair a contrasting black, the figures' playfulness transpires upon a black floor and against a beautifully painted backdrop of powdery grays, blues and lilacs. In both theme and technique, the work hints at an appreciation of the pastels of ballet scenes by Edgar Degas. Intruding upon the space at lower right is some unrecognizable beast, whose forearm and claw are visible but whose head seems not quite canine. Obviously posing no threat to the dancing youngsters, this prop seems to have arrived belatedly on Guo Jin's scene, which is a snapshot of innocence and insouciance through which the artist bodies forth his own joie de vivre.

In a later painting entitled Animal Play 2 (2005), we see two girls wearing pink outfits with white sashes and collars. Their hair is topped by matching cylindrical pink decorations, which upon closer observation appear to be pig snouts complementing the pink headdresses that signify ears. One of the girls stands upright, while the other is poised with her legs split wide apart; she raises her right hand as though shielding her eyes from the bright light that creates a dark shadow behind them. Standing upon a floor of alternating stripes in light and dark gray, with the wall or curtain behind them a beautifully textured gray, these girls, too, appear ready for some theatrical performance. The mottled surface of the painting demonstrates Guo Jin's technical development and what seems a heavy reliance upon turpentine to create a splotchy, wash-like effect.

Similarly, in the Untitled (2006) work of the same year featuring three young girls lined up in a row, we see an unusual use of grays and lilacs to create Guo's trademark mottling, which is most prominent upon the figures, indiscriminately wandering over their clothing, flesh and hair. The trio of youngsters line up as though in procession, each holding mushroom-like parasols with dramatically black interiors and beautiful blue and grey exteriors.  Part of a fourth umbrella is just visible at the right of the canvas, indicating the procession extends beyond the canvas. The foremost girl in red, older than her friends, peers out at the viewer with a matter-of-fact gaze, a pink floral headdress crowning her pose. The second, wearing yellow and orange, holds her parasol high, hands before her face in the perfect rendition of a still-awkward youngster trying her best to master the task at hand.  The third child, clad in yellow, has clearly had enough of all this nonsense, her face indicating her ennui as she rests her parasol on her shoulder in a lackadaisical pose.  The children stand upon their interconnecting shadows, an amorphous black abstraction that echoes the rhythm of their parasols and poses above.  Set against a yellow and mauve background, the charming figural group seems a backstage snapshot from a rite of spring performance.

Theater is the avowed subject of Performance No. 7 (2007), a large oil in which one child, dressed as what might be a parrot, receives the supplication of another in similar costume, painted as a dark silhouette. While the lighting of this stage-set scene from a grade-school performance makes little real-world sense—one would expect the right-hand figure to be similarly illuminated—Guo Jin's composition is a pyrotechnic display of his stylistic vocabulary that relies on seasoned intuition for its overall impact. Like the two contrasting figures in the foreground, the deep orange background punctuated by splatters of brilliant red is complemented by the dramatic silhouettes of leafy bushes and almost barren trees. The mottled surfaces of the figures and their environs, the range of the artist palette, and the peculiar subject matter of the picture make Performance No. 7 a fascinating work of art.  Whether autumnal or vernal, real or imagined, this marvelous scene is a masterful demonstration of the artist's most recent practice.