Wang KEPING (1949) - Lot 84

Wang KEPING (1949) Untitled, circa 2000 Patinated wood, direct-cut sculpture Monogrammed under the base (Chinese characters and monogram K) H. 50 cm Provenance - Given by the artist to the current owner A founding member of the avant-garde group Les Étoiles (Xing Xing) in the late 1970s, Wang Keping revolutionized Chinese sculpture by breaking away from socialist realism to explore radical formal freedom. His work, which he has been pursuing in France since 1984, is a quest for osmosis with wood, whose knots, curves and cracks he respects to bring out its essence. In this piece, we find his favorite theme: a celebration of femininity and fertility, where carnal volumes emerge with organic simplicity. The purity of the work, between archaic sensuality and raw modernity, testifies to her mastery of fire and direct carving. More than a form, this sculpture embodies a "sovereignty of being" liberated from shackles, making each work a totem of resistance and desire, typical of her mature production.