AB# 13113

ARAKI MINOL (1928-2010)

Subject: Abstract

Signed: Araki Monol 78, New Year

Sealed: Minol Araki (reference in Phoenix Art Museum exhibition catalogue, p. 131)

Dated: 1978

Media: Ink on paper

Size: 27 x 54 1/2 in. (unframed)

36 1/4 x 72 in. (framed)

Price: $ 34,000

Although by the 1970s Araki Minol had already been an active painter for over thirty years, his introduction to celebrated master artist, Zhang Daqian, led to a new period of experimentation in his oeuvre. Araki’s use of the ancient Chinese splashed-ink technique in a bold, free style reflects the impact of his mentor Zhang, who was celebrated for modernizing and mastering this literati tradition. Here, this large-scale abstraction is one of Araki's earliest and arguably most successful attempts at splashed ink, which required a combination of artistry with performance. The immediacy of the ink on paper, with no opportunity for alteration and with limited control over the ink's trajectory, dramatically illustrates his confidence as a painter. Abstract is one of a small – in number if by no means in size – paintings from this particularly successful period of experimentation between 1978 to 1980.

For similar works, see the Phoenix Art Museum exhibition catalogue, Minol Araki (1999), pls. 55-57.