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March 30, 2019

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A dialogue on aesthetics of everyday life

TWO acclaimed international artists are showcasing a rare solo exhibition of their work at the chi K11 Art Museum.

Chinese artist Zhang Enli and his Colombian counterpart, Oscar Murillo, have put their heads together to present “Zhang Enli | Oscar Murillo” through the end of May.

The artists are attempting to establish a dialogue between themselves, presenting an abstract perspective toward life and society.

Zhang is one of the most celebrated Chinese artists today. He is best known for his observations on the more prosaic elements of everyday life.

The 54-year-old has devoted himself in recent times to exploring alternative ways in painting, employing and drawing inspiration from a rich array of surfaces, sites and environments.

“Space Painting” is the latest repetition of his ongoing series first launched in 2007. It sees the artist apply gouache directly to the walls of the museum to create an immersive and nostalgic environment. The sheer volume of the painting and lack of traditional frames intimate an alternative way of looking at the space of art.

By following the evocative traces the painter has left, absent objects are brought back to the imagination of the viewers, restoring their spatial awareness through private experience.

Similarly, “Untitled (Tiles) 1-2 (2019)” is a series of checkerboard paintings, installed on the wall to resemble tiles commonly used for flooring in 1920s and 1930s Shanghai, evoking a surrealist imagery of a circus.

“Studio (2018)” is an eye-catching working studio that the artist built during a one-month residency at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, as part of an artist-in-residence program co-presented by K11 Art Foundation and the RA.

Zhang used composite boards in his room-sized painting installation to build a homely working studio inside the RA’s Life Drawing Room, modeled on the home studio in which he had worked during the 1990s. By painting on the floor and walls, Zhang documented every item in the room and their traces of use.

The “Studio (2018)” presentation is, in fact, making its Chinese debut. The work is dedicated to reflect the more mundane aspects of daily life with lyrical prose-like sophistication. The light layers of paint, the ordinary items and the makeshift wooden structure evokes a picture of an era in constant transformation.

Murillo, meanwhile, like his Chinese counterpart, also draws inspiration from his work environment. In this case the Colombian uses non-places like airplanes and hotels.

Specially conceived for the chi K11 Art Museum, Murillo’s “Collective Conscience” is a room-sized installation where he weaves drawings, paintings and sculptures from his ongoing projects into a new composition.

The 33-year-old is known for his highly idiosyncratic practice, integrating video, painting, drawing and sculpture. Repeated renderings of flight paths, maps, signs and initials on paper exude a wayward, intuitive energy, while at the same time suggesting a sense of ritual, something that searches for a state of catharsis.

The highlight of the exhibition goes to Murillo’s “Human Resources.”

The artist uses his family history and issues of human labor within a global capitalist system. This has always been a central theme in Murillo’s work.

Born in the town of La Paila, Colombia, Murillo moved to the UK with his family at the age of 10. Prior to their relocation, Murillo’s father worked as a mechanic in a sugar cane processing factory, while his mother worked in a candy factory. This concern manifests itself throughout his practice in a variety of means, one being his frequent use of traditional terms and effigies to celebrate the new year in Colombia.

For years, Murillo has collaborated with local workers in Colombia to produce these figures using traditional methods, which are then finished in a studio.

“Human Resources” features a series of life-sized effigies sitting on wooden benches, dressed in working clothes and rubber boots. Their heads are painted with larger-than-life expressions ranging from awe to amusement to indifference. By bringing these images of workers, the artist, on one hand, endows a cultural practice native to Colombia, while on the other hand focuses on the condition of workers left invisible by the contemporary capitalist apparatus.

 

Date: Through May 31, 10am-8pm

Address: B3, 300 Huaihai Rd M.

Admission: 60 yuan




 

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