RICHARD LIN | Painting Relief 12.12.63

Marlborough Gallery, London
Important Private Asian Collection

The work is overall in good condition, except for minor surface dirt and slight lifting at the corners of the collages. Examination under UV light reveals very minor spots of retouching to the extreme top and left edges, and the centre of the painting.
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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."

“White is the most ordinary of colours, it is also the most extraordinary; it is the absence of colour, it is also the sum of colours; it is the most majestic of colours, it is also the most common; it is the colour of tranquillity, it is also the colour of grief.” 
Richard Lin

Painting Relief – the foremost representative amongst Chinese artists in Minimalism

After the Second World War, abstract art had enjoyed a particularly prolific period, with various art movements from abstract expressionism, color-field painting, hard-edge to minimalism all beginning to evolve and develop. Against the trends of post-war international art, Asian artists such as Richard Lin, Zao Wou-ki, Chu Teh-Chun and Hsiao Chin traveled to Europe to study art, bringing with them the aesthetics of Chinese culture. Coincidentally, this group of Asian artists all turned their focus to abstract art. These Asian artists remarkably offered their own interpretations of an unstoppable international trend with their Eastern perspectives, carrying with them the foundation of Chinese culture. They developed unique languages of abstractionism in the 1960s and 70s, infusing their Western abstract expressionist oil paintings with Chinese philosophies and cultural elements, winning recognition from the international art world. Painting Relief 12.12.63 (Lot 1042) in the upcoming evening sale was originally from London Marlborough Gallery. Now this painting is available for auction, a truly golden opportunity for collectors who are interested in Painting Relief by Richard Lin.

“Abstraction comes from the English term, Abstract, which focuses on removing all unnecessary things. Existence is ultimately ‘nothing.’”
Richard Lin

The greater movement of abstractionism can be further divided into lyrical abstractionism, with Wassily Kandinsky as its key proponent, and geometric abstractionism, with key proponents including Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian. Most Chinese artists are passionate about lyrical abstractionism, while Lin was rather uniquely pursuing the latter. His pursuit was pure artistic expressions; simple, clean lines imbued with rich connotations, while emotions are not expressed in the imagery. Richard Lin’s art reflects his artistic concepts, ever simplifying his creative output to achieve ultimate purity and rational minimalism. At first glance, his paintings resemble Western geometric abstractionist art, but the deeper spirit within came from the East. The artist’s most iconic White Series employs combinations of white colours of different shades and depths, the results evoke the “leaving white” effect in Chinese scholarly paintings, evolved from the use of ink in Chinese ink and wash. The ethereal lightness in the overall imagery came from the philosophies of Laozi and Zhuangzi, which contributed to the inner world of Lin’s art distinct from Western geometric abstractionism.

Like most abstractionist artists, Lin began with representational paintings. Lin began with semi-abstract landscape paintings in early 1950s. By 1960s, the lines gradually became simplified and incorporated into the composition, devoid of emotions and his approach moved towards the minimalistic geometric abstractionism. Lin once quoted Laozi who said that “the five colours dull one’s eyesight”. The artist believed that traditional ink and wash painting that had no colour was the highest artistic state in Eastern paintings. Lin left the majority of the composition in white, using only blocks and lines to form the composition, making use of a diverse range of materials such as aluminum foil, acrylic paint and oil paint applied in layers on the canvas, creating a three-dimensional sense of sculpture. Painting Relief 12.12.63 is a representative masterpiece of Lin, who used different shades of white and different materials to create rectangles and lines of various sizes, resulting in subtle variations between spaces. Lin expressed complex philosophical ideas with the purest format, transcending the limitations of geographic locations and cultures. In the white space constructed by the artist, the framework and rigorous structures are rational as well as lyrical. Richard Lin’s minimalistic approach is undoubtedly the foremost representative amongst Chinese artists in geometric abstractionist art.