Artwork Description

Title: Sparrow Series – Love 3
Artist: Guoyong Zhang
Date: 2016
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 30 x 40 cm (11.8 x 15.7 in)

1. Artwork Identification
Love 3 is part of Guoyong Zhang's poignant Sparrow Series, painted in 2016. The work features two delicately rendered sparrows nuzzling affectionately against a luminous background of pale sky and soft light. The composition is minimal and intimate, capturing a tender moment of avian interaction, suggestive of care and quiet companionship.

2. Artistic Style and Influences
Zhang’s style in this series is characterized by fine realism with subtle impressionistic overtones. The sparrows are painted with lifelike precision, but their interaction is elevated by the softened palette and gentle brushwork. The backdrop, nearly abstract in its ethereal smoothness, recalls the atmospheric simplicity of Chinese literati painting while reflecting Western influences from 19th-century naturalist studies.

3. Historical Context
Created in the mid-2010s, Love 3 reflects a growing interest among contemporary Chinese artists in exploring micro-narratives within nature—focusing on themes of love, transience, and connection. Zhang’s choice of sparrows, common yet deeply symbolic birds in Chinese and East Asian cultures, situates this work in a long tradition of using animal imagery to convey human emotion and philosophical reflection.

4. Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

5. Condition and Conservation
The artwork is in very good condition. The canvas is taut and stable, and the paint layer exhibits no signs of cracking, flaking, or discoloration. Edges and corners are clean, and there is no visible abrasion or warping.

6. Artistic Significance
Love 3 stands as a quietly emotional and technically refined piece within Guoyong Zhang’s oeuvre. Its minimalism highlights the artist's ability to evoke feeling through restraint and nuance. The work offers a meditation on affection, simplicity, and natural beauty—qualities that make it both accessible and enduringly moving. Ideal for collectors drawn to poetic realism and animal subject matter.