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Lot Essay
Zhang Enli's paintings are filled with the ordinary, the common, and the everyday. Born in Jilin and currently living in Shanghai, Zhang explores the innate beauty of objects and environments in his work, challenging traditional boundaries between the figurative and the abstract. Still Life (Lot 33) was painted in 1998, and is a rare early example of the artist's work.
In Still Life, a motley assortment of objects are casually grouped together against a dark, gestural background. The objects are reminiscent of those that one might find in an artist’s studio or nightstand – familiar yet filled with sense of timeless nostalgia. Displaced, except in relation to one another, the group is rendered with a sensitivity and humanism that highlights the quiet beauty of the objects that we overlook, while hinting at the identity of their owner who once interacted with them.
Zhang has chosen to place his subjects within an abstract context of dark grey brushstrokes. Using thin layers of paint and a dry brush, the artist has built a primeval world that seems to tumble and roll with gestural chaos, in contrast to the calm collection of inanimate objects that make up the foreground of the work. By creating such juxtapositions, Zhang Enli strives to capture a raw energy in his works, encouraging reflection and an awareness of the artist's brush. In his work, the unbeautiful become beautiful, reminding us of the beauty in the simplest aspects of our own lives.
In Still Life, a motley assortment of objects are casually grouped together against a dark, gestural background. The objects are reminiscent of those that one might find in an artist’s studio or nightstand – familiar yet filled with sense of timeless nostalgia. Displaced, except in relation to one another, the group is rendered with a sensitivity and humanism that highlights the quiet beauty of the objects that we overlook, while hinting at the identity of their owner who once interacted with them.
Zhang has chosen to place his subjects within an abstract context of dark grey brushstrokes. Using thin layers of paint and a dry brush, the artist has built a primeval world that seems to tumble and roll with gestural chaos, in contrast to the calm collection of inanimate objects that make up the foreground of the work. By creating such juxtapositions, Zhang Enli strives to capture a raw energy in his works, encouraging reflection and an awareness of the artist's brush. In his work, the unbeautiful become beautiful, reminding us of the beauty in the simplest aspects of our own lives.