HSIAO CHIN | La proiezione dell'universo-3

Important Private European Collection 

Venice, Galleria il Canale, 1966
Milan, Galleria Marconi, 1967

The work is overall in very good and its original condition. Examination under UV light reveals no sign of restoration.
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Exploring the Mythical Land of ShambhalaIn the 1960s, as Movimento Punto progressed, Hsiao Chin had begun to express a distinctive personal style in his creative work. This year, from March to May, the China Art Museum in Shanghai held a major retrospective for the artist titled "Hsiao Chin Coming Home", in which his Punto Period is described as a crucial transition towards increased focus in his artistic career. While Lyrical Abstraction was in vogue in Paris, Hsiao Chin was exposed to different movements in Milan, including Spatialism, Zero, Op Art, and Kinetic Art. These movements subverted not only the practice of traditional paintings on canvas but also the abstract painting styles that were then popular, and they completely transformed Hsiao Chin's pre-existing understanding of creativity. As he came into contact with avant-garde Western ideas, Hsiao Chin was enthusiastically studying his own cultural roots. This intense dialogue between Eastern and Western discourses let Hsiao to found Movimento Punto, centred on the Eastern philosophy of "the spirit of contemplation", in 1961. The movement brought together dozens of Asian, European, and American avant-garde artists, including Li Yuan-Chia, Azuma Kenjiro, Antonio Calderara, Lucio Fontana, Enrico Castellani, Dadamaino, and Jesús Rafael Soto. The second issue of the Chinese modern art magazine This Generation, founded in 1965, featured a long profile of Hsiao Chin, and heralded him as "a prominent figure in this generation". Like Zao Wou-Ki, who appeared on the cover of the first issue, Hsiao was seen as an accomplished and representative overseas Chinese artist, and La proiezione dell'universo-3 (Lot 1023) is an exemplary work from Hsiao's Punto Period.

Ever since his tutelage under Li Zhongsheng in Taipei in the early 1950s, Hsiao Chin demonstrated a strong affinity for bold colours. After he arrived in Italy, he began to use coloured ink and acrylic paint as his main mediums, achieving effects of fluorescent colour and highly fluid art. The composition of La proiezione dell'universo-3 begins with the signature point of Movimento Punto, this time in the form of three concentric circles of jade green, pink, and bright yellow. The circles represent the chaotic origins of the universe, and from them, rays of gem-like royal blue and pomegranate emit outward in a spiral, lending the picture plane a strong sense of movement. This composition of orderly blocks of colour clearly shows the influence of Western geometric abstraction. The intense colours and dynamism also recall Fauvism, CoBrA, Op Art and Kinetic Art. However, of greater importance is how this painting displays an all-new artistic approach for Hsiao: an exploration of the secrets of the origins of the universe. During the ascendance of Movimento Punto, Hsiao was shaping an Eastern cultural Modernity. The artist once stated that the murals of the Potala Palace in Tibet strongly influenced his creative production during this period, and a close look at the Sacred Map of Shambhala in the Heavenly Light Chamber of the Eastern Sunlight Hall of the Potala Palace reveals a strong connection with Cosmic Radiation 3. In Tibetan Buddhism, Shambhala is a Utopian kingdom that, according to legend, is located near Mount Kangrinboqê, the highest peak in the Kailash Mountains in western Tibet. The kingdom was ruled by thirty-four kings in succession who mastered Kalachakra (wheel-of-time) Buddhism and commanded a powerful army. According to prophecy, when the world is attacked by evil forces in the future, the king of Shambhala will lead his army to vanquish them and establish an idealized golden age. The Utopian vision of Shambhala is an important subject of the Tibetan art of thangka, in which universal themes of space, time, and cosmic origin are explored. The three concentric circles in La proiezione dell'universo-3 clearly correspond to the three levels of the Shambhala kingdom as portrayed in thangka and Tibetan murals. The rays radiating from the circles represent an invincible cosmic energy that destroys darkness. The artist took this ancient and wise artistic motif and adorned it in an avant-garde, abstract style. In this way, he not only stimulated Eastern culture, but also contributed a new essence to Western art.

La proiezione dell'universo is a representative series from Hsiao Chin's Punto Period that has often been featured in group and solo exhibitions of the artist's work, including solo exhibitions at the Il Canale Gallery in Venice in 1966 and the Marconi Gallery in Milan in 1967. As post-war Asian art has received increasingly widespread attention in recent years, Hsiao Chin's performance at auction has been extraordinary. His no. 100 size (160 x 130 cm) Punto Period works Dancing Light 17 and La forza della meditazione sold for HKD 5,980,000 and HKD 7,560,000 respectively last year, setting a new auction record for the artist. Cosmic Radiation 3, in terms of both its representativeness and its brillance, is a masterpiece of Hsiao Chin's 1960s work. The China Art Museum is preparing to build its Hsiao Chin Art Research Centre, and the Hsiao Chin International Art and Culture Foundation building in Kaohsiung is nearing completion, marking a new phase of global recognition for the artist. Hsiao Chin's role in art history is receiving a comprehensive re-evaluation that is reflected on the market, and a brilliant future for his works can be expected.



This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue To an Infinite Ascendance.
The authenticity and information of this work have kindly been confirmed by Hsiao Chin and Hsiao Chin International Art Foundation