Exhibition traces artist’s path toward self-discovery and all the places ‘in between’
Print Edition
“IN Between,” the first solo exhibition by Zhang Daini — who creates art under the pseudonym Dannie — is now on display at The Jin Jiang Hotel on Maoming Rd.
According to information distributed by organizers, the exhibition summarizes the artist’s 3-year search for self-identification. “In Between,” a name chosen by Dannie herself, brings together a host of works created over this period which illustrate the artist’s pursuit of creative expression.
“My paintings are my inner self, or the other side of me — the unhappy half. It erupts now and then,” said Dannie. “I started working at a very young age and have had many different jobs. But I put them all aside these three years. I didn’t work. I traveled and did paintings, seeking to solve my own puzzles.”
The years of exploration were tough yet inspiring. Many of Dannie’s early works were relatively straight forward depictions of distortion, threat and pain. Skeletons, skulls and death were frequent motifs.
Entering 2015, Dannie realized the necessity of breaking the boundaries between life and artistic expressions.
To Dannie, the “between” place implied by her work is the borderland which separates people, ideas and artistic expressions. It is a state of suspension, where nothing is solid. It is also the gaps between space and time.
The “Ugliness. Beast. Cuboid” series depicts nude bodies inspired by the famed Taihu stones, irregular rock formation shaped by the random forces of nature and much admired by members of China’s ancient literati class, who often placed them in private gardens as symbols of mountains.
The relationship between artificiality and crudeness is what Dannie aims to present through this series of paintings. Despite being filled with paradoxes and conflicts, Dannie fuses the contradictions into the tension and liveliness of her works. At the same time, organizers say, this series also symbolizes Dannie’s personal guest to break the bonds between her past and her artistic aspirations.
In the later “Ceramic X Red Line” series, Dannie further explores the definitions of expression, boundaries and space. In contrast to her early works, which are often emotional and expressionistic, this series is rational and solemn. By adding a red line through the black and white paints, Dannie uses a subtle means to break the balance and to distort the illusionary spatial effect created by perspective and shading.
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