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Lot Essay
Painting Relief by Richard Lin is one of the most iconic series that represents the pinnacle of his artistic oeuvre. He illustrates threedimensionality on a flat surface, conjuring multiple visual illusions through a precision of colour and geometry. Fusing the aesthetics of Chinese Daoism, Lin cleverly uses the iconic white colour to innovate his vision of Optical Art and Minimalism, which was a prominent expression in the modern art world. The subdued and restrained strokes generate various depths of white to illustrate an 'empty' space.
Created in 1961, Painting Relief, April 1961 is named after Lin's masterly painting technique—it beautifully accentuates Lin's inventive perception of shapes and space. Lin coats the canvas in multiple layers of white to create great sense of visual depth, achieving the characteristics of two-dimensional space and a three-dimensional effect. The irregularity of the rectangular blocks adds so much dynamism to the painting. The current series also draw connections with Josef Albers' experimentation with colour and form in his "Homage to the Square" series. Albers relies on colours to achieve visual depth in an orderly composition. In contrast, Lin breaks free from the paradigm of colours and only uses shades of white to construct space; while his variations may seem quite minimal, it reveals his mathematical precision and careful manipulation of space.
The inclusion of aluminium plate is another masterly element that is spectacular about Painting Relief, April 1961 . Lin presents different combinations of black, white, and squares on the canvas, and the aluminium strips complement the fine lines between the white squares while also breaking their monotony, resulting in multiple levels on the same canvas; these levels intersect but still maintain a delicate balance, working with the oil paint to build up depth upon the canvas – this mastery over space is closely connected with Modernism in architecture. Lin studied architecture in the UK during the 1950s; he cleverly absorbed his learning from architectural design and infused it cleverly with modern art. The present painting not only contains the spirit of abstractness, but also explores the spiritual depth of 'empty' space. His awareness to material, mathematical precision, and geometric abstraction to depict the sense of space is an continuous pursuit of simplicity—"less is more".
Created in 1961, Painting Relief, April 1961 is named after Lin's masterly painting technique—it beautifully accentuates Lin's inventive perception of shapes and space. Lin coats the canvas in multiple layers of white to create great sense of visual depth, achieving the characteristics of two-dimensional space and a three-dimensional effect. The irregularity of the rectangular blocks adds so much dynamism to the painting. The current series also draw connections with Josef Albers' experimentation with colour and form in his "Homage to the Square" series. Albers relies on colours to achieve visual depth in an orderly composition. In contrast, Lin breaks free from the paradigm of colours and only uses shades of white to construct space; while his variations may seem quite minimal, it reveals his mathematical precision and careful manipulation of space.
The inclusion of aluminium plate is another masterly element that is spectacular about Painting Relief, April 1961 . Lin presents different combinations of black, white, and squares on the canvas, and the aluminium strips complement the fine lines between the white squares while also breaking their monotony, resulting in multiple levels on the same canvas; these levels intersect but still maintain a delicate balance, working with the oil paint to build up depth upon the canvas – this mastery over space is closely connected with Modernism in architecture. Lin studied architecture in the UK during the 1950s; he cleverly absorbed his learning from architectural design and infused it cleverly with modern art. The present painting not only contains the spirit of abstractness, but also explores the spiritual depth of 'empty' space. His awareness to material, mathematical precision, and geometric abstraction to depict the sense of space is an continuous pursuit of simplicity—"less is more".