Contemporary Art: Xi Zhang @ Marc Straus New York

 

(Drivebycuriosity) - I enjoy contemporary art. Some artists are telling stories with their paintings, often in an encoded way. One them is the Utah-based Chinese artist Xi Zhang. Gallery Marc Straus on Manhattan`s Grand Street, the inofficial boarder between the Lower East Side & Chinatown had an exhibition with recent paintings by him (marcstraus). I like the colorful and surreal works. According to the press release "Zhang’s work echoes water-colored landscapes of antique Chinese scrolls, but also the expressionistic gestures and exuberances of early 20th Century Germans and the Italian Transavantgarde of the 1980s".

On top of this post you can see "Limbo" (2017, Acrylic on Canvas, 58 x 72 inches) followed by some detail shots. What is happening here?

It seems this person is indwelling a luxurious room with a graveyard in it. Very spooky.

Above "Christina’s World" which "relocates Andrew Wyeth’s iconic character from the idyllic American heartland to a harsher shanty town. Piecemeal shacks are crumbling in the background, while Christina stumbles through a fallow landscape of dead trees and refuse. Toxic green ground and orange skies drive home the mental trauma of the setting".

Above "Seesaw" (2 017,Acrylic on Canvas, 72 x 108 inches).

Stay tuned!