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25th May - 10th July 2018
191 South Suzhou Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, China, 200002
The Invisible Forms opened on May 25th, 2018 at Art+ Shanghai Gallery is Zhang Wei’s first solo exhibition in Shanghai. After his post-graduation from the Mural Department of CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing) in 2014, where he was studying under the tutelage of Chen Wenji, Zhang Wei spent four years of tireless artistic exploration and adjustment. His latest paintings in “The Invisible Forms” are the result of the past four years of work. They show both continuance and progress in the artist’s thinking. The overall tone is soft, light, and there is always this unique tension generated from the strict arrangement of the painting and randomly generated texture on the surface. There is also a breakthrough in the arrangement of the painting as Zhang dismissed the only central object of the tableau. The viewers’ way of observing the painting is now altered as Zhang moved the line of sight and focal point to the periphery of the tableau. Viewers are able to achieve a different experience of appreciating the works as they change the distance and perspective.
Perhaps it is not accurate to define Zhang Wei’s art as abstract. As Gilles Deleuze puts it in Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, “there are two ways to go beyond the concrete, abstraction and visualization. Paul Cezanne gave the latter way a simple name: feeling.” Indeed, Zhang Wei’s works are separated from the concrete form and representational expression. But what about thinking of it this way: when familiar visual experience no longer works, a search for the “potential” and the “invisible” begins - whether regarding the imagination of abstract space concepts, or senses other than sight. It is these “invisible forms” that may be moving towards a third way between abstract and concrete. So, we can ask ourselves, do we rely too much on vision when we view artworks?
The Invisible Forms opened on May 25th, 2018 at Art+ Shanghai Gallery is Zhang Wei’s first solo exhibition in Shanghai. After his post-graduation from the Mural Department of CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing) in 2014, where he was studying under the tutelage of Chen Wenji, Zhang Wei spent four years of tireless artistic exploration and adjustment. His latest paintings in “The Invisible Forms” are the result of the past four years of work. They show both continuance and progress in the artist’s thinking. The overall tone is soft, light, and there is always this unique tension generated from the strict arrangement of the painting and randomly generated texture on the surface. There is also a breakthrough in the arrangement of the painting as Zhang dismissed the only central object of the tableau. The viewers’ way of observing the painting is now altered as Zhang moved the line of sight and focal point to the periphery of the tableau. Viewers are able to achieve a different experience of appreciating the works as they change the distance and perspective.
Perhaps it is not accurate to define Zhang Wei’s art as abstract. As Gilles Deleuze puts it in Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation, “there are two ways to go beyond the concrete, abstraction and visualization. Paul Cezanne gave the latter way a simple name: feeling.” Indeed, Zhang Wei’s works are separated from the concrete form and representational expression. But what about thinking of it this way: when familiar visual experience no longer works, a search for the “potential” and the “invisible” begins - whether regarding the imagination of abstract space concepts, or senses other than sight. It is these “invisible forms” that may be moving towards a third way between abstract and concrete. So, we can ask ourselves, do we rely too much on vision when we view artworks?
