iPRECIATION is delighted to present 18 exclusive Ink on Paper artworks by Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian. The paintings are dated from 2005 to 2007, and will be showcased at iPRECIATION Hong Kong for the first time.

Born in 1940, Ganzhou, China, Gao Xingjian is a multidisciplinary talent who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 with works such as Soul Mountain and One Man’s Bible. Gao also participated as an eminent guest at La Milanesiana in 2008. At this celebrated annual arts festival held in Milan and attended by the world’s foremost authors, musicians and film directors, Milanesiana presented Gao with a special citation to acknowledge and honour his extraordinary artistic versatility.

Highly individualistic and uncompromising in his creative aesthetics, Gao refuses to follow popular and fashionable trends dictated by the market. For him, art stems from the individual artist’s sentiments and perceptions. The ability to examine and comprehend one’s own psyche and aesthetic pursuits is acquired through personal experience, and it is this that materialises as art. Thus, each of Gao’s paintings is a solitary exploration of the artist’s inner landscape, and what is revealed is a sensitive concern for the human that is provocative and sometimes disquieting.
Intrinsic elements of Gao’s paintings are highlighted when linked to his literature, and these are further clarified when linked to his films. Despite the differing themes, plots and schema present in Gao’s theatre, literature or film, these all derive from a singular methodology that entails a return to the intuition, sensations, perceptions and aesthetic sensibilities unique to the individual.

As an artist, novelist, scriptwriter, director and filmmaker Gao has received accolades for his radical and innovative approaches. His achievements are due to his asserting his prerogative to reject the teachings and hypotheses that others have established, and to produce creations that are quintessentially “Gao”.

iPRECIATION has published a special monograph, illustrating Gao Xingjian’s Ink on Paper artworks, as well as his recent Ink on Canvas paintings, The Monograph also includes an esteemed essay by Mabel Lee (Adjunct Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney), who has published a large number of academic papers on Gao. Professor Lee is also the translator of his Soul Mountain, One Man’s Bible, Buying a Fishing Rod for My Grandfather, The Case for Literature and
(forthcoming) The Aesthetics of Creation.