Shi Zhiying staging solo exhibition at Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute

"Bliss," the solo exhibition by Shi Zhiying is showing at the museum of Shanghai Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute (SPSI) through December 13.

As one of the 6th Oil Painting Academic Series Exhibition of SPSI, the exhibition features a group of canvases created by the female artist based on her research project of "The Chinese ideorealm in the expression of contemporary painting" over the past two years.

Shi aims to explore the transformation of traditional art language via the modeling and the application of colors used for ancient Chinese statues and frescoes. Through the study of shape and colors of the above, Shi tries to express a simple, stable and joyful oriental mood on her canvases.

The exhibition is divided into three parts.

The first includes a series of statues including sacred animals and flying Apsaras, which the artist believes to reflect a figurative spiritual world.

The second section depicts a series of gems and mirrors. The minimal outlining of shapes and compositions plus dreamy tones convey an ethereal abstract spiritual world. The final part is a video animation that abstracts the colors of Dunhuang fresco paintings into a circle of light paintings, which transforms the paintings into a cyclic dynamic process with a rhythm similar to breathing.

"Shi is noted for the application of black and white hues on her canvases for nearly a decade," said Fu Jun, director of the museum of SPSI. "The paintings showcased at this exhibition manifest a shift from her previous plain and simple style to a more brilliant one. The change began in 2019 when she moved her studio. The new environment, especially the old dark green floor at the studio slowly awakened the 'color genes' that had been submerged in her."

She pursues the poetic ambiguity of oriental philosophy, and the subtlety that can be understood but not easily expressed.

Exhibit Info:

Date: Through December 13 (closed on Mondays), 10am-5pm

Venue: SPSI Art Museum

Address: 111 Jinzhu Rd

金珠路111号