David Wu Ject-Key

 

Important Private American Collection

This work is overall in good condition. The canvas is relined with wax adhesive. There are slight creases across the surface, notably a horizontal one across the middle. There is no evidence of restoration under UV light.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Inner Harbour in Rockport, MA displays David Wu Ject-Key's Chinese artistic sensibility through the composition and colorization of the piece. Compositionally, the work resembles the landscape of a Chinese scroll, in the same way that both canvases are vertically arranged, with subjects depicted in a downwards motion. The artist has employed foreshortening in the placement of the inner harbour to give an illusion of distance away from the viewer. The arrangement of boats on the left side of the canvas forms an arc shape that gradually moves leftwards from the background towards the foreground. Wu's depiction of sea and sky is uncannily different to any Western seascape, namely because he adopts the least minimal contrast by using a muted and basic palette. The predominantly light grey base is left bare and minimal, void of any unnecessary decoration or detail. Although the painting is not abstract in style, the artist has adopted certain simplistic elements that lend the composition a minimal air. For example, arbitrary brushstrokes towards the top right hand corner of the canvas represent a layer of looming clouds, the ambiguous shadows underneath the boats represent ripples of water, giving the illusion of suspension between the boats and the sky. This thoroughly surrealist sense of expression reflects the technique of "blank filling" in traditional Chinese painting. As a whole, the painting presents a successful merger between the art of Western and Chinese culture.