Painted Skin
Painted Skin, Video Record, 2020
The long scroll is divided into 15 chapters: Fear, Disguise, Absurdity, Scream, Hero, Peace, Guidance, Freedom, Revolution, Carnival, Protection, Spirit, Avatar, Battle, Soul…around masks that cover faces, I intend to explore the reason that true faces are covered.
There’s a traditional Chinese saying that, the “Greater Hermits” in the cities, living in seclusion is a state of mind and sometimes it is also an evasion. The Rules of Nature of the Jungle are: “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the most responsive to change.” When I was seen as an alien in an environment because of my skin color or background, hiding might be the best way to react.
In 2020, we have lived among diversified realistic masks and invisible masks.
I have been stranded in New York for over 6 months and I watched the BLM marching every day. Confronted with the rising number of infected people, turbulent news of international relations, my thinking and emotions sometimes lead me to be depressed and sometimes I am aroused. I was forced to think about issues of respect and discrimination, right and wrong, identity and attribution in anxiety and conflict, to further explore the intrinsic meaning of a life if the external form is stripped off and color of skin is ignored.
Painted Skin
Ink and color on cloth, (approximately) 35*1200cm, 2020
Mask Diary
Mask Diary
Ink and color on cloth masks, 10*16cm, 2020
In December 2019, I came to New York for an exhibition featuring my work and then celebrated the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) with my daughter in New York.
I witnessed the outbreak of the pandemic and the process of its quick spread across the world. New York has also become an area severely affected by the virus. My air tickets were cancelled repeatedly and my visa has expired. All I can do is to make further decisions according to each situation as it arises and remain patient in difficulties.
After the pandemic started to spread in New York, medical masks were in short supply even in hospitals and we could not buy any masks in New York. I thought that if this was a lasting fight again the virus, I should be prepared. Thus I bought a sewing machine and planned to make some masks by myself. We can use some and send others to those who need them. The masks I made were very practical, they were made of white cotton with an innerlayer and nose clip. I used one everyday and recorded some news or data on the pandemic and on my mood on each day on the white cotton mask. From January 23rd through to May 4th, there are a total of 111 masks.
In New York, Chinese or Chinese Americans are often anxious because of our identity. During the spread of the pandemic, Chinese people were insulted for wearing masks. Wearing masks or not became an embarrassment for Chinese people. All of a sudden a mask suddenly became a very complicated and symbolic sign. The Mask Diary, has gradually become my art project from what was originally a practical purpose.
Undoubtedly, this pandemic has changed our original way of life and at the same time highlighted social problems originally hidden. For me, when I went to the supermarket with a huge black mask and sunglasses, the mask was not completely used to prevent the virus. The security I needed was not only from a physical perspective, but also from the perspective of mental health and identity.
Mask Diary
Ink and color on cloth masks, 10*16cm, 2020
The Edge of the World at Close Quarters
Since early 2020, I started to have a habit of reading news every day, although it was usually bad news.
Pandemic statistics are what I must read every day. Charts of various regions can be found intuitively as a flat world map by some app via mobile phone, in the palm of my hand. The world became so small that some pieces gradually turned red, or black and they finally were connected. It looks like “Hill on Hill in Red” by Li Keran, all the leaves of forests turn red in the landscape while the wind blows treetops.
When the world is in the palm of my hand, the edge of the world is just at close quarters.
Thus I began to create “The Edge of the World at Close Quarters.”
Yanzi wrote on 13 August, 2020
New York
The Edge of the World at Close Quarters-1 /Hill on Hill in Red, Ink and color on paper, 9.5×42cm, 2020
The Edge of the World at Close Quarters-3/Landscape, Ink and color on paper, 6×32cm, 2020
Zhang Yanzi was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province. Graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Zhang got her MFAs in both Chinese Painting and Literature. She is currently based in Beijing and she works for the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Her solo exhibitions were held respectively at Shanghai Art Museum, Today Art Museum, PAN, Palazzo delle Arti di Napoli, Hong Kong Museum of Medical Sciences and Volta New York. She was awarded the Best Artwork of 2013 Lu Xun Culture Awards in 2013. Major group exhibitions she participated in include: The Grand Canal: Collateral Event of the 55th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2013), Painting the Present at the Certosa di San Giacomo, Capri in Italy, The Third CAFAM Biennial Negotiating Space: I Never Thought You Were Like That and so on. Besides, her works have been included in the collections of many art institutions and private collections. Zhang Yanzi, an ingenious artist and a mind healer, whose paintings strike a subtle balance between art and healing. She finds the source of self-salvation of the mankind with unique sensitivity of the feminine. (Comments by Beidao)
Image, Video and Text Courtesy of the Artist.
Edited by Sue and Emily/CAFA ART INFO
