The paintings Zhang Xin has finished in recent years have little to do with plots, and some of them have even been reduced to mere shapes. Though coming from everyday life, they have bearing neither on himself as a painter nor others in terms of interest and value, and they have not gone beyond the domain of reality. What is revealed in these paintings, however, is peaceful and quiet observation, something possible only when the observer is independent of emotions. The viewers therefore can truly feel his steadfast looks and realize that what he is doing is nothing but reconstructing by means of color and shade the moment these objects or figures are observed. The ordinary is kept as what they usually are. If the audience consider the ordinary to be extraordinary, then they must have got their own experience and emotions involved. To a painter, to turn his looks and perceptions into a painting means both retaining and abandoning, and in most cases, abandoning is more common. When Zhang Xin paints, it gives us an impression that something new but neglectable is added to our trivial life, as it does not make any significant difference if he paints or not. We can thus identify in these paintings a kind of freedom and a real sense of life. He keeps the objects, figures and space as they normally are rather than getting them to voice his attitude or produce forcedly some message. Painting is only a medium for his observation and understanding, so what is expressed is actually a by-product of the activity. What he can see is here, so does what he can express－the painter does nothing more than observe and experience. 

Zhang Li 2014.11