Zhang Leiping solo exhibition at Long Museum West Bund
The exhibition "Zhang Leiping: Stroll and Pause" is showing at Long Museum West Bund through the end of March. The exhibition features nearly 40 works by Zhang, including her "Terraced Fields" series, "Sea-reef" series and "Reed" series. Half of the works, especially the reefs, were created in the last few years.
Born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province in 1945, Zhang graduated from the Stage Design Department of the Shanghai Theater Academy in 1968. She was influenced by the woodcuts and Chinese paintings of her childhood.
As a veteran artist, she experienced several transformations of the era in China and shared the wandering period of Chinese painting. Whether in her early reeds or more recent reef series, she was not enamored with the grand narrative but turned her attention to tiny and tenacious objects.
The exhibition is more than a retrospective one.
The title " Stroll and Pause" unveils the journey of an artist, moving between sketches, manuscripts, splash-ink painting, and abstract graphics.
Over the past 60 years, Zhang has explored the traditional while at the same time browsing the Western painting world.
"I'm not fond of the gambling between the old and the new, but I trust more in the call from the heart. I don't want to be limited to one path since I want to let my ink flow freely," Zhang said.
Standing in the fertile soil of conceptual liberation, she apparently realizes her artistic ideals leisurely in the dialogue with nature. Here, her paintings go beyond materials, regions, genres, and ideas, and she becomes a chronicler of emotions and perceptions.
Exhibit Info
Date: Through the end of March (closed on Mondays), 10am-5:30pm (Tuesday to Thursday), 10am-8pm (Friday to Sunday)
Venue: Long Museum (West Bund)
Address: 3398 Longteng Avenue
Admission: 100 yuan (US$13.90)