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"Purple and Reminiscence"
Oil Paintings by Zhang Lin Hai
Vernissage: 14 December 2006, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Exhibition: 15 December 2006 - 17 January 2007
Schoeni Art Gallery Ltd. is delighted to announce the much anticipated 4th solo exhibition of artist Zhang Lin Hai entitled "Purple and Reminiscence". Pre-eminent in his field, Zhang Lin Hai's collection of new works shows how he is evolving stylistically as an artist as he further develops his scope of imagination, and his motif of bald young boys against a backdrop of a post-industrial arid wasteland. More so now than ever before, Zhang Lin Hai's onus is placed on the individual, rather than an oblique field of the masses. Zhang Lin Hai is also bringing a strong emotional pièce de résistance to the fore, explicitly articulating feelings such as sadness, fear, a need for escape, bemusement, and even more disconcerting, the vapid glare of shock or even possession.
The dense terminal clusters of the grasslands are still used to great effect to explore the landscape of memory through locally specific symbols and typographical reference. But now, Zhang Lin Hai borrows from his uniform representation of youth to enforce the identity of the individual - his solo protagonists peer out from the canvas with looks of bewilderment and emotion, sometimes tears are spilling down the chubby cheeks of injured youth. Zhang Lin Hai's paints in the characteristic greys of his muted and sombre palette, his figures are depicted in monochrome and at times garbed in crimson, a highlighting technique that brings a harrowing and haunting quality to the canvas. In addition to this stylistic device, Zhang Lin Hai is also experimenting with ochre yellows and terracotta hues, throwing his monochrome figures sharply into relief, more so even than the craggy tips that span the horizon.
Zhang Lin Hai's works foster a discourse that implies the significance and resonance of personal boundaries, as they are expressed through and against society. The tone of his works is much less about staring across a field of masses, or into a dizzying height of strangely androgynous forms assimilating into towering architectural towers like the fabled tower of Babel - these heights no longer descend down upon the viewer. Spatially, Zhang Lin Hai pits a panoramic expanse against the recognition and solace of solitude - there seems to be an eerie dimension that has now been infused into his works, thus denoting a shift in his awareness of the transcendental and otherworldly.
Again, Zhang Lin Hai surpasses his already established heights of achievement and artistic clairvoyance. This show is one not to be missed.
Written by Alexandra Hamlyn
Zhang Lin Hai's masterpieces have been collected and exhibited internationally, most notably in the ChinArt traveling museum exhibition, which has been shown in Germany, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Spain. In addition to this, Zhang Lin Hai was involved in another international programme which was held, in joint vision, with the distinguished MKM Museum Küppersmühle, Germany last July 2005, where he and Wang Yi Dong were invited to artistically support their contemporaneous leader in Chinese Contemporary Art, Cai Guo Qiang.
Zhang Lin Hai was one of the finalists in the 2003/2004 Sovereign Contemporary Asian Art Competition – winning the second "Schoeni Prize".
Click on image for an enlarged view.
Purple Series No. 1
Oil on canvas
80 x 100 cm, 2005
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Purple Series No. 4
Oil on canvas
80 x 100 cm, 2006
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Purple Series No. 5
Oil on canvas
80 x 100 cm, 2006
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Purple Series No. 7
Oil on canvas
116 x 150 cm, 2006
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Paradise Series 2006 No. 42
Oil on canvas
215 x 360 cm, 2005
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For interview arrangements or further information please contact Selina Liu.
| Exhibition venue: |
Main Gallery, 21-31 Old Bailey Street, Central, Hong Kong. |
| Opening Date: |
6:30 pm - 8:30 pm, Thursday, 14 December 2006
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| Exhibition runs: |
15 December 2006 – 17 January 2007
Monday - Saturday 10:30 am - 6:30 pm.
Closed on Sundays and public holidays.
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| Contact Details: |
Selina Liu, Tel: +852 2869-8802 Fax: +852 2522-1528
gallery@schoeni.com.hk
www.schoeni.com.hk
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© Schoeni Art Gallery Ltd. 2006.
All rights reserved.
Images of art on this website may not be reproduced
without prior permission of Schoeni Art Gallery Ltd or the
artists.
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