Artist Spotlight - Yi Zhu — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Biography

Deconstructivism and reconstructivism in painting by Yi Zhu

Yi Zhu is an artist in the great social changes in China who has a mindset of evolving. He has witnessed the tremendous change of China's social and economic structure from the Mao Zedong era to the Deng Xiaoping era, which has influenced his worldview.

Yi Zhu Chinese Primary force 2024 Oil on canvas 80ｘ120 CM

In the early days, he engaged in printmaking and illustration, creating many works with unique visual compositions. When working in the field of commercial design, he led his own design company, pioneering the Chinese market in the design, production, and installation of point-of-sale advertising in many market channels.

Yi Zhu Chinese Spring river flower moon 2023 Oil on canvas 80ｘ120 CM

Facing the various social sensations and the struggle and longing of human nature in the competition within the business field, Yi Zhu created many prints and oil paintings, positioning himself as the creator of deconstructivism and reconstructivism in painting, in the context of Chinese and world contemporary art.
Many of Yi Zhu’s works have been collected by collectors in New York and in China.

Yi Zhu Chinese kinetic energy 2024 Oil on canvas 80ｘ120 CM

Selected Exhibitions & Fairs
• 2024 Chelsea Biennale (Group Exhibition), Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York, USA
• 2024 Art Expo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA
• 2023 Art Plus (Art Fair), Shanghai, China
• 2023 Art Expo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA
• 2022 Art Expo New York (Art Fair), New York, USA

Yi Zhu Chinese My world and this world. No.,02 2024 Oil on canvas 80ｘ100 CM

Awards：

2023 Winner – Best Solo Exhibitor, Art Expo New York, New York, USA
2024 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2023 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg
2022 Certificate of Artistic Achievement, Luxembourg Art Prize, Pinacothèque Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Artist Statement

Yi Zhu focuses on the physical attribute of life and sense the expansion and contraction. Deconstructing materiality and reconstructing spirituality, he creates the spiritual world of his imagination.
Uniqueness, imagination, creativity, and freshness can be found in the works of Yi Zhu. He constructs the physicality of life and spiritual catharsis among species, human and space. His works preserve the contraction and expansion of life.
I am not just painting. I am painting thoughts.

Yi Zhu Chinese Disrespectful intrusion No.06 2024 Oil on canvas 60ｘ80 CM

Yi Zhu's creativity is as follows: “I express my subjective feelings and attitudes toward life on canvas, while sensing the inspection of my works from lives outside of the canvas.
I create on the basis of species, life and space, elements of the focus of the society. It is creativity on the level of imagination to reconstruct the spiritual world. Through my works, I explore the complex feelings and desires behind life, which are infusing my works with deeper dimensions and touches.”
Yi Zhu’s creativity and worldview;

Yi Zhu Chinese Disrespectful intrusion No.07 2024 Oil on canvas 60ｘ80 CM

My creation consists of the materiality and the abstraction. In the physical world, I create a spiritual world of the abstraction. I deconstruct the structure of the materiality, and reconstruct my spiritual world on abstraction. The fundamental of life is to breathe. The exhale is expansion while the inhale is contraction. This is the physicality of life. In the social context, there is attitude and spirit to the inhale and the exhale of the human physicality. This is a relationship of deconstruction, a realization of the reconstruction of the visuals for the spiritual world.

Yi Zhu Chinese Life • Tension and Contraction 2024 Oil on canvas 80ｘ100 CM

I have been deeply influenced by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy on logic and propositions, along with the viewpoints such as “you can break red vessels but not the red color”.
My creative philosophy in painting is deconstructivism and reconstructivism. I reconstruct the new visuals in a parallel world, with the deconstruction of the materiality of the physical world. I decompose myself to pursue the struggle and dignity of the fundamental of life in a parallel world.

Yi Zhu Chinese Construct a state of mind No. 01 2023 Oil on canvas 80ｘ100 CM

A purely idealistic subjective expression.
Materiality to the world of desires and breathing for survival is as the spirituality of humans to the luxury of expansion and contraction of breathing for life. I’m not going into this world of structures and rigid languages. I’m creating a new space of visual languages for the position of the soul, as a bridge connecting the virtual to the real. I enable the perception of the vibrant colors and dignity of life in my works.

Yi Zhu Chinese Construct a state of mind No. 03 2023 Oil on canvas 80ｘ100 CM

What needs to vanish is not my virtual spirit but the rigid thoughts for life from the rigid structures of the world. This is a question of the perception of the origination of life.
Because of my paintings, you see yourself. Deconstruct materiality. Reconstruct spirituality.

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