Zhang Tianmu - Asteroid B-612 Online Auction: Inspired by a Saint-Exupéry Novel Hong Kong Tuesday, December 7, 2021 | Phillips

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  • “The rose heard the fox’s heartbeat

    The fox lives within the conch’s heart

    The conch embraces the little boy’s face

    And the boy never grew old”

    — Zhang Tianmu

  • Catalogue Essay

    Creating a whimsical world often depicting young girls surrounded by creatures drawn from her own imagination, Zhan Tianmu’s protagonists are illuminated in a soft, cool palette. Seeing her paintings as a means of liberation and release, Zhang offers a world of reprieve, despite the complexity of experience and emotion within. The half-lidded gaze of her girl protagonists completes the dreamlike daze of her paintings, sometimes looking off to the side in languorous wonder, sometimes staring straight at the viewer. Despite the undercurrent of loneliness, Zhang’s works are peaceful, with figures seemingly suspended in time and space.

     

    As an interdisciplinary artist, Zhang works across mediums including paper clay, polymer clay, and cardboard, citing fabric as most suited to her working methods. Interestingly, Zhang recalls a particular distaste for cute characters originating early from her childhood. Her works balance a pretty delicacy with provocative titles which allude to the ‘stream-of-consciousness’ nature of her works, encouraging more intimate contact with her viewer as she subverts the sorrows and ugly absurdities of daily life. 

     

    Born in 1971 in Jilin, Zhan Tianmu majored in Chinese Painting at the National Huaqiao University, furthering her studies at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in mural painting. She currently lives and works in Beijing and Shenzhen.

     

     

    Artists Zhang Tianmu and Zeng Jianyong speak about their practice

    • Provenance

      Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

    • Exhibited

      Hong Kong, ARTboratory, One must look with the heart, 29 June - 12 July 2021

Ж28

Rose fox conch boys

signed and dated 'Tianmu 2021 [in Chinese]' lower right
tempera on paper mounted on wood panel
42.2 x 49.2 cm. (16 5/8 x 19 3/8 in.)
Executed in 2021.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
HK$15,000 - 35,000 
€1,700-4,000
$1,900-4,500

Contact Specialist

Hin Hin Wong
Associate Specialist, 20th Century & Contemporary Art, Hong Kong
+852 2318 2013
hinhinwong@phillips.com

Asteroid B-612 Online Auction: Inspired by a Saint-Exupéry Novel

Online Auction 7-14 December 2021