钟飙 （中国） 朋友

Signed and dated middle right Zhong Biao 04.7.6

Zhong Biao was born 1968 in Chongqiing，Sichuan province of China. He received his art education from the Oil Painting Department of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou and graduated in 1991. Zhong began participating in group shows in various countries across Asia，Europe as well as the United States immediately after completing his studies.
Recognized for his unique blend of Asian and Western motifs，Zhong’s paintings are portrayals of his concerns for the problems of today’s society. His works are frequently executed in various mediums，and he is best known for his combinations of charcoal and acrylic paint. Zhong makes use of the monochromatic quality of charcoal on his canvas，juxtaposed against the vibrancy of acrylic to create a color dimension that is consistent to time direction. He often depicts human forms in monochromatic shades and their environment in vivid colors as his indication that people are temporary beings that will eventually leave the world，and in contrast the life spans of material things often surpass that of human beings.
Zhong Biao’s subject matter focuses on the notion of disconnected activities and objects occupying the same time and space，with articles often seen floating in his canvases. He expresses his ideologies of the importance of history in contemporary times through the surreal composition of paradoxical scenes，combining motifs of eastern and western culture as well as from different eras. Zhong’s subject matters transcend the limitations of time and space，and the represent a fusion of his subject’s reality and imagination. His human subjects are portrayed to be restless and his representation of the future apprehensive.
The present lot，Friends，was executed with charcoal and acrylic paint，in Zhong Biao’s signature style. The restless edginess of his subject’s attitude towards each other，and the ambiguous relationship between the subjects in the foreground and background encourages the imagination of his viewers. Featured in the background are children with firearms，under the iconic symbol that represents what today’s Chinese society is facing：the onslaught of consumerism. Children with toy guns can be a common sight，but it can also be interpreted to be the influence the political disorder that China had experienced in the recent decades. Completed with the unfinished quality of charcoal sketching，this work is typical of Zhong Biao，done in a style that the artist has came to be known by.