“His art is thoroughly rooted in Chinese tradition and thought patterns … It contains a whole universe–both the outer and the inner … When I’ve pondered on the question of which art could be seen as representing a different China on the multifaceted scene of Chinese contemporary art, one of the names that keep popping up in my head is Zhang Yongzheng,” commented Anders Gustafsson.
Zhang Yongzheng, an artist of the new generation of the seventies, impressed the public with his clear and unique understanding of art and style at his solo exhibition Mysterious Rhythm in 2008.
The works build up an artistic realm based on the cycle, movement and rhythm of Yin and Yang, the sky and earth and nature, the soul and the universe with calligraphic free expression, “Style of Five Elements” in coloring, and reflections in the framework of ancient Chinese philosophy. Thousands years today, we forget how our ancients followed the principle of the unity of time and space, unity of the universe and man and lived in harmony with nature. The artist, by trying to identify the connection between man and nature in traditional Chinese culture and its theory of “unity of the universe and man”, reflects on our world with his ultimate concern for human reality and harmony between man and nature.
His solo exhibition Puzzlement and Awakening, to be held on Set. 4, 2010, is aimed to be a concrete exhibition of the artist’s progress made in the last three years. Belonging to Yin and Yang respectively, “puzzlement and awakening”, as is explained by the artist himself, are in opposition to each other, i.e., “puzzlement”, like night, darkness, and vagueness, corresponds to Yin, while “awakening”, like day, light, and clarity, corresponds to Yang. Then, “puzzlement and awakening” mean “perplexity and awakening”. When one gets perplexed, he/she is disoriented and loses his capacity of judgment. Moreover, from puzzlement to awakening one gets his soul purified, his goal in life cleared, and experiences the change from darkness to light, so the process is also a pilgrim’s progress. Last but not least, doing these works of art, I went through the same process— from puzzlement to awakening. I started Process series in 2005, and now I am doing Process 6. This series records such a process. The lines in the paintings are surely symbolic of puzzlement, but they lead to awakening. It is not easy to liberate ourselves from puzzlement and stay awake, and we have to turn to traditional culture in the East and self-discipline. I wish both my life and my art can reach that state.
“Our age is dominated by illusions and obsessions. The so-called prosperity can sometimes be deceptive. Modern man are spiritually lost and confused, so they are in relentless pursuit of material riches. Disasters in various forms all have something to do with our “puzzlement”. Due to puzzlement, most people do not know they have to awake, and there is lack of harmony between human beings themselves and between man and nature. It takes awakening to solve the problems and disasters we are facing. To stay in puzzlement or to stay awake, it depends on our will.” (Zhang Yongzheng)
In his latest works, the flow of lines in most of his works (implying movement in the universe, i.e., movement of life, also rhythm of life based on the eternal exchange between Yin and Yang) seems to be suddenly interrupted by a force from the world of chaos, producing the visual effect of the “Big Bang”, leading to strong visual and psychological uneasiness and turbulence. Here the underlying absolute stillness in his previous works is replaced by an overwhelming sense of unrest, evoking a sense of imminent disaster and peril. The great changes in Chinese society will probably influence the Chinese view of the universe. These works maybe considered a mirror of his personal reflections, and more importantly, revelation straight into his own aesthetic universe, heralding a new form of expressional language.
Someone pointed out that the greatest invention by Greek philosophers was to single out “nature” as being universe without man. The Chinese, though, saw man as inseparable from nature, as part of a whole. Much of Chinese philosophy is an inquiry into man’s struggle to find and maintain the balance. In the realm of art, Chinese Zhang Yongzheng is engaged in the same pursuit.
