Dawn - Light Fog
Zhou Zixi
周子曦
Production date
2009
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
triptych 260 x 540 cm
Notes
'Dawn–Light Fog' seems at first sight to be an abstract painting, perhaps an art historical reference to Malevich, or to Rauschenberg’s White series. But on closer inspection familiar shapes emerge from the mist, and a vista of Tiananmen Square reveals itself, its ghostly structures shrouded in white fog. Then you see the tanks. Zhou Zixi was present during the days of the student occupation of Tiananmen Square; afterwards, he abandoned his study of Chinese literature, believing it to have lost all meaning, and turned to art. Painting, he thought, was a medium in which he could express his ideas in subtle ways. Zhou has thought deeply about the implications of Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase, ‘the banality of evil’, in relation to events in modern Chinese history, and about the weight of collective responsibility. How can individuals maintain constant vigilance, so that they may avoid unwitting participation in evil acts? And what is the responsibility of the artist?
Accession number
2013.137