「Look at the Picture and Talk about the Painting」Zhang Chengzheng: Absence is the most extensive presence

When the main character in the painting disappears, is it a flaw in the creation? Or is it a brilliant stroke of a brand new narrative?

Zhang Chengzheng’s “Naughty Boy Series” captures childhood through the running figures of the young boy. Within the rough texture, the untrained edges of the teenagers are the most distinct marks of innocence. In the “Girl Series”, the blank space of the back view replaces the concrete narrative, and in the hazy light and shadow, the fluttering emotions of adolescence are like smudged letters, with fading handwriting yet lingering aftertaste. Until the empty chair occupies the center of the picture, the narrative shifts from “individual memory” to “the theater of life”.

This chair, which has no one sitting on it, is part of the first two series of “Emotional Containers”. Its texture is embedded with the coal dust from “Naughty Boy Series”,and in the shadows lies the confusion in the dreams of “Girl Series”. Its “waiting” is never empty; it is the starting point for exploring the world and the fulcrum for gazing into the heart. When the brushstrokes detach from the specific human form. Zhang Chengzheng weaves the most solid resonance in the “absence”, allowing everyone gazing at the empty chair to find their own undiminished childlike innocence and uncooled anticipation in the painting, as well as the invitation to the future!

Today’s tea has run out. Next time, I’ll make some new ones and accompany you to enjoy art.