Unknown
郭楨 Guo Zhen
設色紙本
Ink and Color on Paper
36 x 135 cm / 14.2 x 53.1 in
$ 12,000 ~ 15,000
Although "Red Lotus Flower" is a classical theme in the history of Chinese ink painting, the handscroll Red Lotus Flower depicted by the artist Guo Zhen differs a lot from the delicate and beautiful red lotus flower in the pre-modern Chinese ink paintings. On the image, the large red lotus leaves are rendered with ink and wash with a light bloody colour. The two flowers hidden behind the leaves are pale as pieces of paper when compared to the colour of the leaves. In addition to flowers, the painting is dotted with many remnants of lotus branches, twisting and dancing wildly. On top of them the lotus seeds resemble the viewers of the eyeballs. The whole scene is paling away, eye-catching, and reminiscent.
Guo Zhen graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of China Academy of Art in 1982 and stayed on to teach in the school. She was one of the earliest explorers of female ink painting after the Chinese Economic Reform (1978). After moving to the United States in 1986, she has lived in New York for a long time, and is an Asian contemporary female art pioneer active in the international art world. From the visual motifs used by the artist and the non-traditional brushwork, one can feel the feminist issues that the artist has always paid attention to in her artistic creation.
《红荷》虽为中国水墨画史上的传统题材，艺术家所描绘的红荷横幅却与传统画法中娇嫩、清丽的红荷有所不同。画面上大片红色荷叶，以水墨渲染的手法表现，颜色似血，引人联想。两朵荷花藏在叶面之后，相比荷叶如血鲜艳，荷花则淡如纸色。除了花朵之外，画面上点缀许多残荷枝干，扭曲舞动，枝头莲子宛如眼球，引人注目。
郭桢1982年毕业于中国美术学院国画系并留校执教，是改革开放后女性水墨艺术最早的探索者之一。1986年赴美后长期住在纽约，也是活跃在国际艺术界的亚裔当代女性艺术开拓者。从艺术家所使用的视觉语言（visual motifs) 与不拘泥于传统的笔触，能够感受到其艺术创作中一贯所关注的女性主义问题。
