Zhang Dali's Latest Work 'Wind/Horse/Flag'

Opening: 3pm, Aug. 2 (Saturday)
Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Except Monday)

Curator: Feng Boyi

Zhang Dali's new series, Wind/Horse/Flag, continued his use of migrant workers' bodies as subject matter, but differs from previous works that used materials such as plaster, fiberglass, and pigskin jelly. This time he uses silicon, real human hair, and clothes that look like they came straight from construction sites or belong to travel-worn workers on their way home. The visual effect is not unlike walking into a wax museum!

He purposely chooses a rather trifling aspect of life, but through the process of reproduction bluntly represents real life. At the same time, he captures pain and suffering that exists in history and reality, as well as yearning for freedom. Furthermore, history in Zhang's mode of discourse only reveals itself in flashes of its shadowy silhouette. That silhouette now exists with a new spirit, the effect of having been transformed by the visual language of Zhang's installations. A viewer will ask if he is seeing the allegory of the horse or the allegory told by the horse. As a portrayal of the present, the allegory actually represents history in its original form. When narrating the allegory, Zhang does not turn a hair or make the slightest fuss when targeting present-day evils. Instead, he expresses hope and lets the viewer tremble with fear.