Chen Zhen

Acquired by the present owner directly from the artist

This work is in a very good general condition overall. There are small traces of red paint on the three clamps which are original to the work. One of the legs has a faint crack and depression on the surface of the wood measuring only 1/2 in (1.5 cm) and probably due to a minor impact. This same leg has a slight vertical split to the wood, measuring approximately 10 inches (25 cm) from its very bottom. This split is not distracting but could benefit from minor restoration.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Chen Zhen (1955-2000) was one of Chinese contemporary art's most important conceptual artists.  Known for his large-scale sculptures and installations that often combined such traditional objects as furniture, drums and wax candles together into new forms, Chen confronted the juxtapositions of life in contemporary Chinese society that defined the immediate post-Cultural Revolution condition:  East versus West, tradition versus modernity, health versus sickness.  Chen left China for Paris in 1986 to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the Institut des Hautes Études en Arts Plastiques, a move which further strengthened the import of binarisms in his art production.

The work included here, Trépied No. 2 (Lot 57, 1995), is a prime example of Chen's poetic response to a China being pulled in a multitude of directions.  Constructed from wooden armatures and clamps that literally hold together a pile of newsprint, the work features passages from the Four Pillars of Destiny, a system of fortune telling and feng shui developed in the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), that reveal the opposing yin and yang elements of wood and fire, two of the five major elements of life.  Through combining  the physical—and through their very nature, combustible—materials of wood and paper in the sculpture, Chen builds a conceptual pyre that conceals countless—and invisible—histories within the thousands of pages of newsprint sandwiched between the large wooden blocks of the work's exoskeleton. 

Taking this philosophical framework further, one may conclude that Chen's goal with the work was to clearly show that opposing forces are nothing new to Chinese culture, that in fact basic philosophies revolving around the yin and yang form the very foundation of much Chinese thought.  Bringing this idea into the 20^th-century, especially in light of the very real juxtapositions that live side-by-side in the ever-changing face of China today, Chen further comments on the importance of binarisms in both his own life and that of his native country.  For Chen, this three-legged tower not only represents centuries of Chinese philosophy and history, but also becomes an architectural model that foreshadowed the now-booming building explosion that has completely changed the urban fabric of China today.  Like the newsprint stuffed between its mighty clamps, the sculpture is also emblematic of the interstitial zone between "history" and "modernity" known as Mao's Cultural Revolution, a time when thought was policed and news squelched.  Just like the ever-lingering chance that fire and wood might one day burn, Chen here says that the revolution-era negation of history and reality is just one in an endless cycle of cataclysmic juxtapositions that have defined China throughout time. 

-Eric Shiner