Square
Zhang Dali
张大力
Production date
2014
Object Detail
Media
oil paint on cyanotype on canvas
Measurements
145 x 225 cm
Notes
In his recent cyanotypes, Zhang Dali further creates traces on paper or cloth rendered light-sensitive with the application of cyanide salts: shadows left behind, memories of people, events and the natural world. Life 3 (2011) features leaping figures surrounding a pram, white against the deep blue of the background – fleeting moments in the everyday. Square (2014) is a hybrid of cyanotype and oil painting, with the shadows of the artist’s flock of taxidermied doves silhouetted against the deepest shades of indigo, Prussian blue and cobalt, and sharpened by the application of oil paint. Dead birds appear to take flight, like the wandering ghosts of Chinese folklore.
Accession number
2015.108