“The most essential aim of sculpture it to create a kind of beauty, a kind of unique beauty belonging to sculpture, and anything else is just accessory, such as the background, motive and significance of creation.”
- Yu Fan

Yu Fan was one of the featured artists at the 2008 Shanghai Biennale, where visitors to the Shanghai Museum of Art were greeted by four of his life-size, shimmering silver horses. He works mainly through sculpture and is well known for his highly refined pieces which possess an understated beauty as well as a more intangible, dreamlike quality. He is a sculptor who provokes the imagination with pieces that seek to do more than simply replicate reality.
According to Yu Fan, “the nature of sculpture is sentimental”, and this belief is borne out in his work which is defined by sentimentality, nostalgia and childhood memories. Yu Fan’s skill in capturing the elusive quality of a daydream within his sculptures is a testament to his artistic abilities. His sculptures are akin to memories of times long past, though the details may blur, the spirit of the memory remains.
The present lot, Silver Manned Horse, represents the artist’s impression of the spirit of the animal. Rather than focusing on achieving an accurate representation of the physical attributes of the horse, Yu Fan attempts to capture its less tangible qualities, the essence of nostalgic childhood memories. With improbably long slender legs and a sparkling silver mane it is more reminiscent of the mythical unicorn than any real animal. This dream-like quality is enhanced through the unusual seated position of the horse, as well as the simplified form and the glossy, shimmering finish. The results are a sculpture with an almost ethereal quality, a hallmark of Yu Fan’s work.