PRINTA faint wind through the fine grass on the shore; high mast and lonely boat in the night. The stars reach down to the wide level fields; the moon rushes on in the swing of the Great River. –- Du FU [Tang Dynasty] Thoughts While Traveling at NightTai Xiangzhou, styled Xiao Yang, was born in 1968 in Yinchuan, Ningxia
Province. In 2012, he received his PhD from the Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University. He studied and practiced calligraphy from early childhood, learning from masters such as Wang Wenjun and Hu Gongshi. This was the starting point of a long and multifaceted career in calligraphy and painting. In 2003 he made the acquaintance of the renowned contemporary Chinese painter Liu Dan, an encounter that encouraged him to further explore the techniques and styles of traditional landscape paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Meeting the famous astronomer Yi Shitong in 2006 inspired Tai to explore the spiritual and cultural aspects of Chinese cosmology and shanshui (landscape) painting, and to complete his PhD dissertation, titledPhenomena of the Universe—The Concepts and Structure of Chinese Landscape Painting, the preface to which was written by well-known art historian Wen Fong. The paper closely examines how composition and visual elements in shanshui painting evolved through the dynasties, and seeks to establish a connection between the development of landscape painting and astronomical insights. In his creative work, Tai Xiangzhou aspires to the ancients' worldview and artistic ideals, and his own landscape paintings are brimming with metaphorical elements and metaphysical beauty.
Tai set out by imitating the styles of old masterpieces, but soon proceeded from copying to developing his own approach, which ingeniously employs the swift and bold strokes of Yuan dynasty painting to create works filled with the majesty and splendor. At the same , he manages to inject his oeuvre with a sense of great depth and serenity. This lot, titledCelestial [2015.1], uses compositional elements and aesthetic imagery inspired by Oriental traditions to create a meditative atmosphere. His deft spatial arrangements and smooth, ethereal palette invite us to lose ourselves in the vastness of his cosmos. At first glance, this piece seems to be on the figurative side in showing celestial formations, but the longer we look, the more we become immersed in the abstract beauty of a great river rolling towards the sea, and enjoy the rhythmical undulations fed by the artist's inner world of warmth and emotion.
Tai Xiangzhou's works are collected by numerous museums and academic institutions, including the following: Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology, Beijing Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art Yale University Art Gallery Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, North Carolina Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey The Art Institute of Chicago
Province. In 2012, he received his PhD from the Academy of Art and Design, Tsinghua University. He studied and practiced calligraphy from early childhood, learning from masters such as Wang Wenjun and Hu Gongshi. This was the starting point of a long and multifaceted career in calligraphy and painting. In 2003 he made the acquaintance of the renowned contemporary Chinese painter Liu Dan, an encounter that encouraged him to further explore the techniques and styles of traditional landscape paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties. Meeting the famous astronomer Yi Shitong in 2006 inspired Tai to explore the spiritual and cultural aspects of Chinese cosmology and shanshui (landscape) painting, and to complete his PhD dissertation, titledPhenomena of the Universe—The Concepts and Structure of Chinese Landscape Painting, the preface to which was written by well-known art historian Wen Fong. The paper closely examines how composition and visual elements in shanshui painting evolved through the dynasties, and seeks to establish a connection between the development of landscape painting and astronomical insights. In his creative work, Tai Xiangzhou aspires to the ancients' worldview and artistic ideals, and his own landscape paintings are brimming with metaphorical elements and metaphysical beauty.
Tai set out by imitating the styles of old masterpieces, but soon proceeded from copying to developing his own approach, which ingeniously employs the swift and bold strokes of Yuan dynasty painting to create works filled with the majesty and splendor. At the same , he manages to inject his oeuvre with a sense of great depth and serenity. This lot, titledCelestial [2015.1], uses compositional elements and aesthetic imagery inspired by Oriental traditions to create a meditative atmosphere. His deft spatial arrangements and smooth, ethereal palette invite us to lose ourselves in the vastness of his cosmos. At first glance, this piece seems to be on the figurative side in showing celestial formations, but the longer we look, the more we become immersed in the abstract beauty of a great river rolling towards the sea, and enjoy the rhythmical undulations fed by the artist's inner world of warmth and emotion.
Tai Xiangzhou's works are collected by numerous museums and academic institutions, including the following: Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art and Archeology, Beijing Harvard's Arthur M. Sackler Museum of Art Yale University Art Gallery Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, North Carolina Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey The Art Institute of Chicago