Hsiao Chin (1935- 2023) was born in Shanghai in 1935 and is celebrated as a pioneer of modern abstract art.
Hsiao Chin (1935- 2023) was born in Shanghai in 1935 and is celebrated as a pioneer of modern abstract art. As a co-founder of Punto Movement in Milan during 1961-1966, Hsiao is the first and only post-war Chinese artist attempting to convey Eastern philosophical ideas and the concepts of mindfulness and self-contemplation in the Western pictorial language of abstraction. Hsiao's works are not only artistic representations of Asian philosophy but, in a broader context, are an intellectualised expression of Asian ideas in their essential forms. The understanding of the entire post-war avant-garde art scene would not be complete without mentioning Hsiao Chin and the Punto Movement, along with American Abstract Expressionism, French Lyrical Abstraction, and Japanese Gutai. Hsiao uses a limited range of colours and basic geometric forms to represent the infiniteness of the universe. A minimal style in both paintings, skilfully combined with the sharp contrast between colours and shapes, elevates the conflict expressed in the works. The simple, compact and asymmetric composition of the works renders a kind of beauty that is fully refined and sublime. Such simple and modest representation of beauty is rooted from the philosophical thoughts of Zen in the East. His works can be found in major collections around the world including Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), M+ Museum (Hong Kong), Musée Guimet (Paris), National Galerie (Rome), Long Museum (Shanghai),etc.
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Hsiao Chin
