Zhang Enli

Topology

27 October - 22 December 2012

Zürich

Zhang Enli is known for his subdued paintings of ordinary objects: pipes and hoses, empty shelves, tiled walls and tangled wires. Yet through his skillful treatment of the medium, these seemingly objective depictions of everyday items transform into captivating portraits that redefine the meaning and interpretation of their subject. For his first exhibition in Switzerland since his critically acclaimed solo presentation at Kunsthalle Bern in 2009, Zhang Enli will present 'Topology' at Hauser & Wirth Zürich, featuring 20 new large-scale paintings.

Set against a neutral background or, in the case of 'The Wire (2)', the sloping perspective of a yellow and blue striped floor, simple, black wires come alive on Zhang Enli's new canvases as they unravel and dance across the picture plane. These works combine Zhang Enli's characteristic handling of paint – a series of thin applications that are left to bleed across the surface of the canvas – with a new-found confidence evidenced in the fluidity and lyricism of his lines.

The undulating curves and twisting shapes of the wire are sharply contrasted by the superimposed rigid grid, which divides the canvas up into calculated segments as a painting aid. The conspicuousness of the grid removes these works from the European still-life tradition of mimesis and instead embraces the act of painting.

Zhang Enli's 'Cargo' series presents a significant departure from his previous works. Each painting depicts a heaving bulk of cargo in a white cover, held down by a tangle of netting. The cargo fills the space of the canvas with its imposing mass, pushing through the ropes that contain it. Unlike his previous works that feature commonplace objects easily recognisable to any viewer, Zhang Enli gives no intimation as to what is concealed beneath the cover. However, similar to his earlier paintings, these works are completely removed of any context. The viewer is left to guess if the cargo they are seeing has just arrived, or is preparing to depart. It is this state of uncertainty and this world of perpetual flux that has captivated Zhang Enli for many years, and continues to do so today.

Installation views

About the Artist

Zhang Enli

Using the outside world as a mirror, Zhang Enli documents the more prosaic aspects of contemporary life. He regularly works with everyday objects that he is instinctively drawn to, for example a piece of string, a hose, or even a marble ball from the floor of his studio. Zhang Enli often magnifies his subjects until a specific fragment of a scene is depicted, as if enlarged through the viewfinder of a camera.

Within his figurative works, the perspective of each painting is often skewed to heighten the drama of the object’s shape, or to enlarge its importance. Zhang Enli’s expressive lines and curves are influenced by traditional Chinese brush painting, but are always underpinned by the structure of his pencil-drawn grids. The muted tones and loose washes of paint make the objects seem removed, as if occupying a liminal reality where only the essence of the object is portrayed on the canvas.

In his series of installations, known as Space Paintings, Zhang Enli paints directly onto the walls of a room to create immersive, nostalgic environments. These range from the abstract, where color and gesture recall sights and sounds of a particular place, to more figurative reproductions. The scale, and the lack of a traditional frame, alters the relationship between viewer and work, demanding the viewer retraces the steps of the artist and relives his experience of this physical space.

Anchored in figuration with descriptive titles, Zhang Enli’s most recent paintings seek to capture the ‘essence’ of his subjects rather than their physical representation. Within these works, Zhang Enli projects his own concerns and recollections onto the canvas, fusing the real and the imagined in highly personal impressions.

'Sometimes, the obscured object also creates a trace with the passing of time. This is the origin of my recent abstract paintings. When I look at a wall, or sky, it is full of traces, and then I name these traces after someone; it becomes very interesting, it is visible yet invisible.’—Zhang Enli