 orn in the late 1960s, Zhao Nengzhi belongs to a generation old enough to remember the Cultural Revolution and has been shaped by the disappointments of Tiananmen Square. His disturbed, disturbing faces act as troubled witnesses to a culture filled with the wish for things. Interestingly, however, the terms of the figures' disaffection and anomie is essentially private rather than public; Zhao's red faces, painted in sizes large enough to evoke landscape, do not rely on external references to make their point; instead, hardship has been internalized, so that Zhao's portraits communicate mostly psychological distress.
Zhao's figures wrestle with an unspoken grief that seems inexorable and overwhelming; figuration here gives him the room to paint and sculpt in broadly engaged terms, which beg the question: Why such alienation in an environment of abundance and greater personal freedom? Zhao's strength is that he refuses to give answers to such a question, referring the query back to his audience.
Zhao Nengzhi solo exhibition "Confessional Figuration" is exhibiting at ChinaSquare Gallery in New York, on view from June 3, 2008.
Body No.5, 2008, oil on canvas, 230 x 180 cm
Body No.6, 2008, oil on canvas, 230 x 180 cm
Phantom No.10, 2008, oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm
Phantom No.11, 2008, oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm
Phantom No.12, 2008, oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm
Phantom No.13, 2008, oil on canvas, 180 x 230 cm
Phantom No.14, 2008, oil on canvas, 230 x 180 cm
Phantom No.15, 2008, oil on canvas, 230 x 180 cm
Phantom No.29, 2008, oil on canvas, 210 x 350 cm
Phantom No.30, 2008, oil on canvas, 210 x 350 cm
Phantom No.31, 2008, oil on canvas, 210 x 350 cm
Pose No.6, 2008, oil on canvas, 80 x 150 cm
Pose No.7, 2008,oil on canvas, 80 x 150 cm
Pose No.8, 2008, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm
Expression, 2001, oil on canvas, 130 x 220 cm
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