Lot 78: 張溫帙(b. 1957)好事者 Zhang Wenzhi Gossiper

張溫帙(b. 1957)好事者青銅雕塑 Zhang Wenzhi Gossiper Bronze Sculpture

Wenzhi Zhang was born in Guangzhou, China. She holds a MFA from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Seoul National University of Sciences and Technology in South Korea. Wenzhi Zhang’s works are represented in prestigious private and public collections, including private collections of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Worth mentioning: National Art Museum of China, Malaysia National Art Museum, Norway National Museum of Art, Korean Palace Kiln Museum and many other University Museums.

Wenzhi Zhang has lectured internationally in many Universities and has written several textbooks on Ceramics, The Art of Contemporary Materials in 1993, Classroom Ceramics in 2001, and Contemporary Ceramics Art and Design in 2011. Currently, she works and teaches Ceramics at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China.

“Duality: A Conversation Between Stoneware and Bronze” is the theme of Wenzhi Zhang’s new works which are composed of five series, “That Era,” “Current Times,” “Women’s World,” “Warriors,” and “Please Don’t Forget the Dragons.” Her new works are similar to a comprehensive presentation of her life experiences, feelings, emotional memories, and her perceptions of today’s society. These stoneware and bronze sculptures realistically and whimsically reflect bizarre human and animal figures as if history and present, East and West, dreams and realities, rationality and absurdity, the forgotten and memories, “That Era” and “This time,” were all thrown into the washing machine for a mixing, resulting in a fresh yet strange and conflicted feel. All these figures are shaped into humorous, satirical, and clashing details, providing viewers with a vast space for imagination.

The remarkable and dramatic strength of Wenzhi Zhang’s art emanates from her keeping in touch with social issues of concern to those most affected (including herself) by significant changes in Chinese society. Her human figures often are like cartoon, exaggerated and expressionistically confrontational. With this aspect predominating, one might call her works caricature. They generally represent various categories of human beings by their profession or types, such as professors, students, silly men, red guards, women’s world figures, mothers, pregnant girls, etc. While with this degree of predominating identification, one might categorize her ceramic and bronze works as cartoon because they are similar to the manga styles of expression in contemporary Japan. The comic works of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami come to mind.

Can one interpret Zhang’s works as satirical or tragic and whether she is holding up human vices as follies to ridicule or scorn?

張溫帙出生在中國廣州。她擁有廣州美術學院的碩士學位和韓國首爾國立科技大學的博士學歷。張溫帙的作品在著名的私人和公共空間收藏，包括丹麥女王的私人收藏。值得一提的是： 中國美術館，馬來西亞國家美術館，挪威皇家美術館，韓國廣州朝鮮宮窯博物館， 和許多其他的大學博物館。

張溫帙在十幾所國際大學演講，並撰寫了幾本陶瓷教科書。1993年的《現代材料藝術》，2001年的《陶瓷教室》和2011年的《當代陶瓷藝術設計》。目前，張溫帙任教於中國廣州美術學院。

張溫帙“二元性：陶與銅的對話”當代雕塑作品展，將於2011年9月23日在美國紐約市立大學美術館展出。展期將於2011年9月23日展至2012年2月3日。

張溫帙以“二元性：陶與銅的對話”為題的新作由“那個時代”，“這個時代”，“女人世界”，“新兵馬俑”，“請不要忘記這些龍”五組系列組成。她的這些新作是一個涵括了藝術家的人生經歷，情感與情緒記憶以及她對當下的認知與哲學思考的完整的藝術呈現。

這些陶塑與銅鑄的既真實又怪誕的匪夷所思的人物和動物形象，將歷史與當下，東方與西方，夢境與現實，理性與荒誕，遺忘與記憶，還有“這個時代”與“那個時代”統統像放在滾筒洗衣機里加以攪拌一樣，給人鮮活的卻又是五味雜陳的說不清道不明的奇特感受。所有的這些形象均被塑造得詼諧幽默，妙趣橫生，豐富的，相互衝突的細節元素，為欣賞者所提供的想像空間十分廣闊。

張溫帙的藝術作品蘊涵了非凡的戲劇性力量，源於她對那些中國社會重大變革影響人們以及社會問題的關注。她創作的人物形象通常像漫畫，誇張且富於表現衝突。由於這方面的特徵占主導地位，人們可能認為她的作品似漫畫。她的作品通常代表着各類人物，涉及到不同的職業或類型，例如教授，學生，愚蠢的人，紅衛兵，女人的世界形象，母親，懷孕女孩等。儘管通過這種類型來確定身份的方式占有主導地位，但人們或許還會將她的陶瓷和青銅作品歸為漫畫類作品，因為她的作品與當代日本的漫畫表現形式相似。這不禁讓人聯想到日本藝術家村上隆的連環漫畫。我們是否可以將她的作品稱為超具象幽默？

人們是否能夠將她的作品理解為諷刺，抑或悲劇，她是否將人類的惡習視為罪惡加 以嘲笑，還是蔑視？

Height: 45.3 in.115 cm.