Pékin Fine Arts is hosting an exhibition of Zhang Dali’s latest cyanotypes and figurative marble sculptures in the third solo exhibition of the artist with the gallery titled “Monumental Nature” in Beijing.Zhang Dali is China’s most celebrated and well-known graffiti artist who has now stopped tagging buildings marked for demolition and construction back in 2006. His deep-rooted connection to the still life of urbanity still remains desperately at the core of his practice. Economic reality as well as government policy work hand-in-hand to push the city dwellers away from the traditional homes from the street level into the high-rise concrete apartment blocks. Several artists including Beijing-based Zhang Dali have witnessed and recorded this remarkable transformation into their art form showcasing outrage, concern, helplessness, and finally, wry resignation.Zhang Dali’s painterly style and practice are always research-based, and he is always recording daily encounters with the urban spaces of his surrounding and living and working neighborhoods – he showcases mostly the outskirts of Beijing, the very spaces that are now surrounded by vacant lots and are slated for redevelopment. Dali’s aim – whether in graffiti or cyanotype or even in marble statuary, has always been steadily consistent and he centered. He uses the shadow-subjects of cyanotypes and the full body casts of sculpture-figures for his art and then the artist records a rapidly disappearing street life focusing on the hyper-realist, monumental nature of urban “survivors” – depicting both human and vegetative beings – he is steadfastly chronicling big city change alongside traces of what remains.Zhang Dali’s solo show at Pékin Fine Arts is on view through May 20, 2018, at Pékin Fine Arts, Beijing, China, Beijing Shi, Chaoyang Qu, 241, 100096.For details, visit: http://encn.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/pékin-fine-arts/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the artworks.
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