This sculpture is to be sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Northern Banker Art.
Catalogue Note:
THE SPRING RAIN HASTENS ROADSIDE FLOWERS TO GROW; THEY UNDULATE AND FILL MOUNTAINS WITH SPRING.
Northern Song Dynasty, Qin Guan Hao Shi Jin, Composed in Dreams

THE LITERATI RHYME OF AN EXTRAORDINARY TALENT

Zhou Chun-Ya is one of a few artists who perfectly blends Chinese traditions with contemporary elements. He created a representative series of colorful and distinctive classics with unique and exquisite
techniques, natural colors and freehand-like expressionism. 1986 to 1989 can be considered the most important three years of Zhou’s life. As the most representative artist of China’s New Expressionism,
he did not necessarily catch on to the trend of scar art. When the 85 New Wave Art Movement swept through China, Zhou traveled to Germany for further study. Because of the distance from his hometown, he was more able to reflect on his own culture while in Germany. In 1989, Zhou Chun-Ya calmly returned to his hometown and started incorporating German expressionism in Chinese landscapes. He used Western media to revitalize Chinese literati spirit.

“It is because the mysterious, sensitive elements in our traditions are unpossessed by westerners. Realization of this has a considerable impact on shaping the character of my paintings.”Zhou Chun-Ya

Since ancient times, flower-and-plant paintings by traditional Chinese people have been inclined to contain sentimental and elegant meanings. The far-reaching realms more easily revealed the painter’s thoughts and feelings. In this work, “Peach Blossoms”, Zhou Chun-Ya continues to express this traditional Chinese flower-and-plant painting theme implicitly and subtly of the ancients. He uses his unique color concept to depict flirtatiously changing colors of the flowers, engrossed in scorching red manifestation, bold and vigorously vivid colors. The ever-expanding flowers and the tortuous branches, swaying and posing, elegant and natural, reflect the vibrant color of the painting.

“Smoke clouds fully fills a painting leaving it blank. Blank is not just a plain paper. Blank is also a painting.” Zhang Shi Hua Tan

“Peach Blossoms” is rendered in energetic and elegant brushwork with the flower-like branches of peaches as the visual focus of the painting. This expression originates from the unique “brokenbranch”
method of composition seen in traditional Chinese flower-and-bird paintings. This layout provides a close-up view of the flowers without accompanying embellishments, which fully expresses the beauty of the flower shape and color on a white background. During the Emperor Huizong period of the Song Dynasty, there were many works of the flower-like branches with the flower-and-bird narrative. Zhou uses the aesthetics of form pursued in flower-and-bird paintings to repeat the gloom of the traditional literati.

Zhou Chun-Ya, who lives in the spirit of the times, has always subverted Chinese contemporary art with his unique ideas, expressing the literati spirit of “melting feelings to the scenes” with an artistic vocabulary of the times. Classical series such as “Stone,”“Green Dog,” “Flower,” and “Peach Blossom” carry a deep iconic Zhou’s humanism. This work, “Peach Blossoms”, combines Chinese tradition with the contemporary. Freehand-painted flowers are graceful and splendid, also refined and elegant. Zhou fully reproduces the unique charm of a boneless image with Western media, not just the charm of flowers and gorgeous leaves. The flowers under the spring light are surrounded by smoke and fog, bold and poetic expression makes the viewers more fascinated by Zhou Chun-Ya’s special artistic language.