HONG KONG.- This June’s Modern and Contemporary Art auction in Hong Kong is dominated by some of the most important and sought after artists in the Asian market.

The sale is highlighted by an historic section of post-war era artists who delved into their aesthetic and philosophical traditions to create a distinct mode of Asian “minimalism”, paintings based on processes that are at once meditative, reductive, and painstaking.

The cover lot is an early work from Japan’s renowned Masaaki Yamada. Yamada was honoured posthumously with two retrospectives at both the National Museums of Modern Art in Kyoto and Tokyo in 2016. His Work C. 107, painted in 1962, (estimate: HK$1,200,000 – 1,800,000) is the largest example from this important series to ever appear at public auction. Painted in 1971, Takeo Yamaguchi’s Kuro shows the wealth of influences which the artist absorbed in his long career, from Cubism to Minimalism and Conceptual Art.

A strong selection of works by renowned Chinese contemporary artists is also among the highlights of the sale. Led by a work by the Chinese contemporary artist, Yue Minjun, his untitled canvas is estimated at HK$1,500,000 – 2,000,000. Yue is famous for his paintings that depict the artist himself, alone or in multiples, laughing in absurdist and satirical scenarios. In the untitled work for sale at Bonhams, an extension of his breakthrough “Life” series exhibited at the 48th Venice Biennale, his avatar is shown naked and doubled-up with laughter in an abstracted space, Yue’s iconic rictus grin on his face as he gropes for meaning and context.

Fellow Chinese Contemporary artist, Zhang Enli is represented in the sale by Big Tree, estimated at HK$1,200,000-1,800,000. Zhang Enli lives and works in Shanghai, but was born in the provincial town of Jilin. His work is heavily influenced by this outsider status, as well as his devoted attention to the beauty of prosaic moments and utilitarian objects.

Works by Chinese artists of a slightly earlier era also feature in the sale. Shiy De Jinn’s, Portrait of Nora, painted in 1960, is estimated at HK$ 800,000-1,200,000. Nora Sun was the grand-daughter of Sun Yat-sen, the modernizing reformer and revolutionary of the early 20th Century and the republic of China’s first president. The portrait was commissioned directly from the artist, and Shiy’s work perfectly embodies the modernizing spirit of the subject and the legacy she inherited.

Finally, following up on the world-record price set for Richard Lin with Bonhams last November, we are pleased to present another rare 1960s work featuring Lin’s signature style. Carrying an estimate of HK$450,000-650,000, the work features the exquisitely balanced geometric forms and subtle shifts in hue for which Lin is known. Executed between 1961 and 1964, the work has never before appeared at auction.

Bonhams Director of Contemporary Art in South East Asia, Ingrid Dudek, said, “Our June sale brings together some of the greatest names in Modern and Contemporary Asian art and I am confident will offer collectors real quality in depth.”