Sheng Qi, B.1965 UNTITLED (MY LEFT HAND SERIES) signed and dated 2006 on the reverse oil and coll

Sheng Qi, B.1965 UNTITLED (MY LEFT HAND SERIES) signed and dated 2006 on the reverse oil and collage on canvas 90 by 80cm. 53.5 by 31.5in. To accurately draw ones own left hand has long been seen as a qualifying mark of an accomplished artist, but in the case of Sheng Qi, images of his four fingered left hand means infinitely more than that; they are the iconic works that sum up the entire life and Ïuvre of one of Chinas most celebrated contemporary artists. Sheng Qi emerged in the 1980s as one of Beijings key performance artists. Using himself as his artistic material he focused on the body as a lived existence of impulse and passion freed from the constraints of rational thought. The modest artistic freedom that was allowed in China during the 1980s came abruptly to an end with the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989 leading the government to respond with reinforced suppression and state control. Sheng Qi, who took part in the protests, found himself forced to flee his country but before his departure he committed what could be read as an extreme act of performance art: he cut off the little finger on his left hand and buried it in Chinese soil so that a part of him would always remain in his homeland. The present and previous lots portray the artists left hand with a found image placed in his palm. When Sheng Qi places a found photograph in his mutilated hand, he is playing at the sudden rush of memories that is often evoked when one looks at a scar or an old photograph. A young boy with a Communist Party uniform and a propaganda image of a muscular party cadre are images of bygone times. With a sense of nostalgia they represent an era quickly dwindling away for the Chinese. In Sheng Qis hand, their sense of na•ve idealism contrasts with the bitter reality that led him to injure himself and therefore become startlingly sensitive and powerful examples of the artists most poignant work. Provenance Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner