SYDNEY. 28 JUNE – 17 AUGUST 2013
One Year (一年) presents a new collection of paintings by Chinese-born artist Zhang Rui (张瑞). Having moved to Sydney one year ago, the body of work in One Year portrays Rui’s development of a visual language working across the context of her experiences of China and Australia. Faced with new physical and psychological environments, the artist’s new work draws on a vast array of images – usually sourced from the internet – as a means of reading or engaging with her surroundings. The results are dense and at times visually cryptic paintings that subtly combine the autobiographical with political threads and interweave personal and social worlds.
The conceptual development of Rui’s works indicate a broad cultural practice that encompasses an education in Western oil painting, an ongoing interest in the Wumen School (吳門學校) painters of China and a broader interest in how to express a sense of humanism through painting. Rui’s practice reveals the complexity of translating meaning across cultural and geographical distances despite the expanding reach of technology. Presented as a series of constellations the works in One Year produce a sense of meaning through a cumulative reading of the language and imagery embedded in the canvases.
Zhang Rui (张瑞) was born in 1983 in Tianjin, China and graduated from the Department of Painting, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. She has presented work internationally, both in China and Europe, including the solo exhibition Freedom We Need, Laden No.5 Gallery, Bad Ems (2011). Rui has also participated in a number of group exhibitions including Fang – then there was no more living room, 978 Art District, Beijing (2007); Xu Ni, Cao Chang Di Art Space, Beijing (2008) and Mud, curated by Ai Weiwei, China Art Archives & Warehouse, Beijing. Rui met Weiwei as a participant in his acclaimed project, Fairytale, presented as part of dOCUMENTA (12), Kassel, Germany (2007).
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
Zhang Rui: One Year from 4A on Vimeo.
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Saturday 29 June 2013
In celebration of the exhibition Zhang Rui: One Year 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (4A) and
Musica Viva have teamed up and are pleased to present an afternoon of public programs
on Saturday 29 June 2013. Join us for lively talks and drinks.
Venue: 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
181-187 Hay St
Sydney NSW 2000
Maplink
1PM Artist talk with Zhang Rui
Join us for a brief tour of One Year led by the artist followed by…
2PM Cellist Jian Wang in conversation with Dominic Knight
Cellist Jian Wang first came to international attention as a child prodigy in the 1980s documentary From Mao to Mozart. Since then his career has taken off around the globe and Musica Viva now brings him to Australia to perform with pianist Bernadette Harvey. Jian Wang will be in conversation with Dominic Knight relating his experience growing up in the Cultural Revolution to his current international career highlighting themes in Zhang Rui’s One Year that resonate with him.
Dominic Knight is Evenings presenter on 702 ABC Sydney, co-founder of the Chaser and novelist.
Presented by Musica Viva, Jian Wang and Bernadette Harvey will be touring Australia in July. At the event 4A will have two double passes to give away to the Sydney shows. Further information.
