Good Luck
Chen Wenbo
Artwork Details
Artwork Description
Title: Good Luck
Artist: Chen Wenbo
Date: n.d.
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 78.7 x 78.7 in (200 x 200 cm)
Artwork Identification
This striking oil on canvas by Chen Wenbo, Title:d Good Luck, exemplifies the artist’s mastery of hyperrealistic precision and saturated color. The composition features two white dice, their gleaming surfaces sharply contrasted against a glowing amber-red ground. Each die is rendered with meticulous attention to reflection, curvature, and chromatic interplay—red, blue, and yellow hues working in balance to produce an almost surreal vibrancy. The magnified scale of these everyday objects draws the viewer into a world that is both familiar and curiously otherworldly.
Artistic Style and Influences
Chen Wenbo is widely recognized for his hyperrealistic style, merging photorealistic technique with pop-art sensibilities. His treatment of mundane subjects—dice, bathrooms, cosmetic objects—is heightened by a clinical clarity and artificial sheen. While rooted in Chinese contemporary realism, Chen’s aesthetic aligns with the global lineage of photorealism and Pop Art, echoing influences from artists such as Richard Estes and Gerhard Richter. The glossy perfection and uncanny atmosphere of his work interrogate the seductive allure of consumer culture and digital aesthetics.
Historical Context
Emerging in the post-1989 wave of Chinese avant-garde art, Chen Wenbo’s work reflects a moment of cultural transition in China, wherein mass media, urban consumerism, and Western influence increasingly shaped visual culture. By enlarging trivial objects into monumental forms, Good Luck comments on the commodification of luck, beauty, and chance in a society navigating rapid modernization. The Title: further underscores the artist’s critical engagement with contemporary superstition, gaming culture, and the psychological economy of desire.
Provenance
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.
Condition and Conservation
The painting is in very good condition, with no visible surface abrasions, pigment loss, or structural issues. The paint layer retains excellent chromatic intensity and appears stable across the canvas. No conservation treatments are currently required.
Artistic Significance
Chen Wenbo occupies a pivotal role in Chinese contemporary art, especially within the New Realism movement. Good Luck serves not only as a technically brilliant exercise in representation but also as a philosophical reflection on chance, material culture, and the illusory nature of control. Works like this—part spectacle, part critique—challenge viewers to reconsider the everyday through an amplified, almost hallucinogenic lens. Collectors and institutions alike prize Chen’s paintings for their fusion of conceptual rigor and visual seduction, securing his status in both national and international art discourse.