ZHANG HUI
MASSIMODECARLO is delighted to present the latest solo exhibition of Chinese artist Zhang Hui at their Beijing space.
November 23, 2024 - January 31, 2025
Zhang’s career unfolds in three acts: in his early work, he focused on exploring and deconstructing the figure; he then expanded his perspective to examine the relationships between people, objects, and space. Currently, he explores the nuanced gaps within human relationships, revealing subtle tensions through fleeting visual images. Zhang Hui captures sensual, everyday moments, personally reinterpreting each one in his art. As he puts it, “What I see arises from incidental feelings in a stable environment, and what I know is rooted in varied fields. When ‘what I see, where I am, and what I know’ collide, new themes emerge.” Zhang’s world is not one of social symbols or burdens but a playground for something altogether fresher, maybe even unsettling.
In this latest series, Zhang's work toys with realism, blending it with surreal irony. In Untitled (Waiting), gorillas and humans wait together in a queue that feels oddly monumental; Untitled (Auction) fragments and reconfigures the familiar through warped reflections; and Untitled (Another Message) deftly blurs the lines between identity and status. Zhang’s paintings probe at what’s real, what’s fabricated, and the shifting grounds between, challenging expression and poking at our own expectations of it.
Art has always been shaped by limited understanding, which solidifies perspectives and, ironically, frees up new forms of connection across time. Zhang Hui’s work winks at this resonance. In Untitled (Little Girl), we glimpse Edvard Munch’s spectral silhouette, while in Untitled (Group 2), we see a nod to Henry Moore’s reclining sculptures. It’s an unlikely but meaningful exchange - a meeting of minds across time and space.
In this exhibition, Zhang Hui presents an incisive exploration of painting, addressing the complex landscape of contemporary society with a distinct personal language. His work reflects on human nature, identity, and emotion, serving as both a distillation of his personal experiences and a mirror of broader social contexts, sparking universal emotional resonance.