Zhang Dali's new "Slogan" paintings continue his political symbolism known best in "Chinese Offspring". Cliché slogans as current as the Beijing Olympics slogan, "One World One Dream", as stereotypical as "Support the lead of the Party", or as subversive as an intense repeating of "AK47", were spelled out with black and white Chinese characters into big portraits of Chinese migrant workers. "Slogan" delivers a multi-layered but almost effortless political metaphor. Seen from a distance, the faces seem as banal, clichéd as the slogans, and the slogans as trivial and negligible as the common faces.
Zhang Dali's works seem to be staying in line with his own expressive methods dating back to his early graffiti works. His massive but passive aggressive uses of clichéd cultural symbols keep portraying the same kind of massive passive aggressiveness in contemporary Chinese society. Migrant workers' faces in "slogan" looked harsh and lifeless, neither resentful nor joyful. The repeating of slogans used in each painting enhances the feeling of a deadly massiveness made by the masses. Zhang Dali once said that he thought there was something heroic about migrant workers. Yet the heroism shown in his works can only be seen as tragic heroism, after being repressed, assimilated and objectified. What we see most in Zhang Dali's works are the passive status of human beings, while political symbols often take the lead as the subjective.
1963
Born in Harbin
1987
Graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Beijing, China
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2009
Pervasion-Works by Zhang Dali (1995-2008), He Xiangning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
A Second History, Shenzhi Art Center, Beijing, China
2008
Slogans, Kiang Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
The Road to Freedom, Hongxin Gallery, Beijing, China
2007
Zhang Dali Solo Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, New York, USA
2006
Sublimation - A New Project by Zhang Dali, Walsh Gallery, Chicago, USA
2005
The game of Realism, Beijing Commune Gallery, Beijing, China
Mayfly, Beijing Commune Gallery, Beijing, China
2002
Headlines, Chinese Contemporary Art Gallery, London, UK
Base Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2000
AK-47, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
Dialogue-Shanghai, Courtyard Gallery, Shanghai, China
1999
Chinese Contemporary Gallery, London
Demolition and Dialogue, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing & Shenzhen
1994
Peter Dunsch Gallerie, Essen, Germany
1993
Galleria Studio 5, Bologna
1992
Galleria dei Tribunali, Bologna
1991
Rocca Municipale, Montefiorino, Italy
1990
La Rupe Gallery, Bologna
1987
National Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
Selected Group Exhibitions
2008
Re-Imagining Asia, Der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany
Face East: Chinese Contemporary Art, Robischon Gallery, Denver, USA
Among the Ruins: Re-Imagining Architectural Decay, Space 301, Mobile, USA
2007
Saatchi Gallery, London Individual Eras, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, Beijing, China
RED HOT - Asian Art Today from the Chaney Family Collection, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA
Zhu Yi! Chinese Contemporary Photography, ARTIUM de Alaca, Spain
2006
China now - Kunst in Zeiten des Umbruchs, Sammlung Essl - Kunsthaus, Klosterneuburg
2005
The Wall, Millennium Museum, Beijing, China
XIANFENG:Chinese Contemporary Sculpture exhibition, Museum Beelden aan Zee, Holland
2004
Triennial of Photography, ICP, New York, USA
Summer Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary Art Gallery, London, UK
Me!Me!Me!, The Court Yard Gallery, Beijing, China
Inaugural Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary Beijing, China
Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, International Center for Photography, New York, USA
Regeneration, Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell Univ., Lewisburg, PA, & touring USA
2003
Left Hand - Right Hand, 798 Space, Beijing, China
Festival Internazionale di Roma, L'Officina-Arte del Borghetto Rome, Italy
China-Germany Art, factory 798, Beijing, China
The Logan Collection, Denver Art Museum, Denver, USA
2002
The Second Pingyao International Photography Festival, Shanxi Province, China
New Photography from China, Beijing, China
Nan Xiao Jie Demolition Moving Exhibition, Nan Xiao Jie, Beijing, China
A Decade of Experimental Chinese Art, Guangzhou Triennial Guangdong Museum of Art, Er-Sha Island, Guangzhou, China
Asian Party, Global Game, Chinese Contemporary at ARCO Madrid, Spain
2001
Cross Pressures, Oulu City Art Museum, Finland
Hot Pot, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
China Art Now, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Contemporary Chinese Photography, Finland Museum of Photography, Helsinki & Oulu Art Museum, Oulu
Group Exhibition, Courtyard Gallery, Beijing, China
Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
Osaka Triennale, Osaka - awarded the Bronze Medal
2000
Summer Group Exhibition, Chinese Contemporary Gallery, London, UK
Dystopia+Identity in the age of Global Communication, Tribes Gallery, New York, USA
Fuck Off, Eastlink Gallery, Shanghai, China
Everyday Attitude, Upriver Gallery, Chengdu, China
Serendipity, The Japan Foundation Asia Center, Tokyo, Japan
Food as Art, Club Vogue, Beijing, China
Thought Brand Meat Mincer (performance), Dongsi 8 Tiao, Beijing, China
Artistes Contemporains Chinois, Musee des Tapisseries, Aix-en-Provence
Anthropology of the Landscape, Lang Island, Guilin, China
Transparence, Opacite?ACAVA-De Martken, Brussels
1999
Beijing in London, Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
Food for Thought, Mu Art Foundation, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Contemporary Chinese Art, Literature & Culture, Bard College, New York, USA
Group exhibition, Cypress College & BC Space Gallery, Cypress, California, USA
Contemporary Chinese Photography, Chulalongkom Museum, Bangkok, Thailand
Departure from China (The World is Yours - performance), Design Museum, Beijing, China
Unveiled Reality, Art Beatus Gallery, Vancouver
Corruptionists, Beijing, China
1998
Green Dog and Masters, Chinese Contemporary, London, UK
China Art Gallery, Beijing, China
11th Tallinn Triennial, Tallinn, Estonia
Lehman College, New York, USA
P-House Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1997
National Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China
1994
Goethe Institute Gallery, Torino
Graphic Arts Experimentation Laboratory Mario Leoni Deborah, Bologna
1993
Neon Gallery, Bologna
Spazio Navile Gallery, Bologna