ZHANG HUI 张慧 | LONESOME SOULS 逝去的精神 @ HUB
February 19th – April 1st, 2012
“Poetry in itself knows of nothing beyond things; for it, everything is serious and unique and incomparable” (Georg Lukács, “Soul and Form”, 1911). It applies the same to the painting of Zhang Hui.
She picturesquely traces that same triad of things in her work. It is the disappearance of things that she refutes in her paintings. Be it an old broom made from chicken feathers, an open wagon, a table top or a kettle: in Zhang Hui’s paintings, they are equally worthy of depiction.
Ironic refraction or postmodern deconstruction is not needed here. Often with a strong axis of symmetry and in an accentuated, virtually individualized close-up, a subject that is staged to be perceived seemingly en passant. Committed to the visual findings of the flâneur, the forgotten or overlooked find sanctuary in Zhang Hui’s paintings. Objects that are at risk of losing their own place, win it back in a subtly portrayed and composed image space.
Upon closer inspection, the randomness of the presented situations and scenarios turn out to be merely apparent: the moment in which the gently moving water is held in “Burano” is precisely calculated: Just as a body from outside the image throws concentric circular waves onto the water.