ZHUANG HONG YI (né 1962) Lot n° 7

Flowerbed n°2, 2015 Mixed media on canvas and rice paper, signed, titled, dated on reverse 60 x 200 cm 23 5/8 x 78 3/4 in. We thank the artist Mr. Zhuang Hong Yi for kindly confirming the authenticity of this work. PROVENANCE Private collection, Belgium Zhuang Hong Yi Born in 1962 in China, Zhuang Hong Yi studied at the Sichuan College of Fine Arts, where he learned traditional techniques to make porcelain and use rice paper, materials that still mark his work today. After moving to the Netherlands in 1992, his work gradually became strongly influenced by European art. Zhuang Hong Yi’s reliefs, especially the Flowerbeds series, to which this work belongs, are characterised by an extreme meticulousness that almost borders on asceticism. He folds the rice paper into thousands of flowers, sprinkling them with paint and retouching them one by one. This creates fascinating optical effects: the work changes depending on the viewer’s location in relation to it. There is a burst of colours, as many as the flowers, while subtly iridescent hues maintain coherence. This puts him at the crossroads of Chinese inspiration and the continuity of great names in optical art such as Carlos Cruz Diez, Jesus Rafael Soto and Julio le Parc.