Jia Aili

signed and titled in English, initialed in Pinyin and dated 2007 on a label, framed

Arario Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

USA, New York, Arario Gallery, The Personal Dimension: Four Emerging Artists from China, 16 September - 13 November, 2010

This work is generally in good condition. There are minor abrasions to the impasto on the upper half of the work, and minor dripping stains are visible near the bottom edge, located slightly left of the central section of the bottom border. When examined under ultraviolet light, there appears to be no evidence of 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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Returning to the Roots
Jia Aili

Jia Aili created numerous important works in 2010, a year that marked a peak in his early period of creativity. Among these works are Make Believe, which depicts a clash between humans and machines, as well as the massive triptych Good Morning, World. Another work completed during 2010 is the lot on offer, Firmament (Lot 1069), a three-metres-long painting that is a seminal work from this key period. The subject of the painting is the horizon, and it can be seen as a cornerstone of the artist’s creative world. The horizon divides the world into two, marking the contrast between the limpid blue sky and the boundless earth. Such depictions have formed the background for many of the artist’s important works, including the Wasteland series that initially brought him into the limelight. Firmament, which was exhibited at Jia Aili’s solo exhibition in New York, is a rare pure landscape by the artist, and a highly significant work in the context of his creative career.

In fact, Jia Aili is the unquestionably the most widely acclaimed young Chinese contemporary artist. He is frequently invited to participate in international art exhibitions; last year, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice hosted a solo exhibition of his work, and at the moment, his work is featured in The Universe and Art, a group show at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo. Jia was born in 1979, and his artworks embody the mentality of the generation born after the Cultural Revolution. With his vividly imaginative compositions and virtuosic painting techniques, he has forged a new space for contemporary Chinese art and influenced many subsequent young artists. The renowned art critic Karen Smith, discussing the artist’s 2012 exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, wrote: “Jia Aili’s works have not only been successful, but also recognized as an essential force in transforming the new generation of Chinese painters”.

Jia Aili’s compositions are usually expansive and magnificent, lending an epic effect to his paintings. The horizon is a central element in all of his works. Firmament returns to the most fundamental aspect of the artist’s work. Beneath a clear and bright sky, Jia’s coarse, broad brushstrokes depict a devastated land: Dandong, the artist’s hometown in Liaoning Province, which recurs as a theme and a stage in Jia’s work because it is a point of contact between him and history. Separated from North Korea by the Yalu river, Dandong borders past (North Korea) and present (China). Consciously or not, Jia uses his memory of Dandong to convey his thoughts on China’s past and present and thereby grasp the shape of time and reflect his generation’s perspective on history. “For me, a work of historiography, no matter how objective, always hides many secrets and invites my exploration. What it implies is precisely the hidden themes that I want to pursue.”

In contrast to artists who came of age during the Cultural Revolution, Jia Aili was born in 1979 and grew up in the 80’s and 90’s. In this period, collectivist communism vanished under China’s liberalisation. Unlike the earlier generation of artists, Jia Aili is uninterested in reviewing the traumas of modern Chinese history, and instead finds inspiration within himself, by exploring the purpose of individual existence. With his robust and even explosive brushwork, and in his fantastical scenes of apocalyptic ruin, he draws a psychological portrait of a young generation and shows the new horizons of contemporary Chinese art. In fact, Jia is similar to some Western artists who hail from post-Socialist countries, such as the East German-born Neo Rauch and the Romanian Adrian Ghenie, in that they all work with familiar iconographies of the past. Although they live in different social contexts, they all possess a unique sense of history and provide unique perspectives on the past. Jia Aili graduated in 2004 from the oil painting department of the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. An inheritor of the Academy’s tradition of Soviet social realism, Jia underwent rigorous training in figural painting. Although a virtuosic oil painter, he refrains from showing off his technique, but has rather worked towards generating a sense of epic tragedy on his canvases. Jia’s works are infused with the spirit of Renaissance paintings; he possess Rembrandt’s and Leonardo Da Vinci’s sensitivity towards chiaroscuro, the world-saving magnanimity of religious paintings, as well as a profound sense of tragedy. Firmament is an outstanding expression of these aesthetics. In technique, Jia pays homage to the traditions of European classical oil painting. His decorous treatment of the earth also brings to mind the modern painter Anselm Kiefer.

In this composition, Jia Aili leaves out human figures and explores the most fundamental concerns of art. In Karen Smith’s view, Jia’s works “articulate a vision of the world that encompasses everything from the universe to specks of dust” with Shakespearean grandeur and sensitivity. Indeed, although he was born long after Shakespeare’s time, Jia Aili has similarly used his sensitive brush to record the context of his era in Firmament. Without excessive political and social consciousness, his works veer towards the private and the secretive, and his emotional expression is restrained and calm, perhaps even cruel. These stylistic characteristics are echoes of the individualistic age in which we live. If art is a mirror of life, then Firmament reflects the vanities and insecurities of contemporary China, and bears eloquent witness to an entire people’s experience of these times.