Xiaogang Caves 025
Zhou Zixi
周子曦
Production date
2015
Object Detail
Media
oil on canvas
Measurements
triptych 300 x 602 cm
Notes
Xiaogang Caves 025 presents us with a landscape devoid of a human presence. A monochromatic triptych, it’s a melancholy vista of rocks and vegetation painted with loose, expressive brushwork in tones of grey. Drips and dribbles of paint run down the canvas, emphasizing its bleakness. The landscape seems still, as if the very air is claustrophobically heavy, pressing down onto the earth, recalling Keats’ line, ‘And no birds sing.’ It seems that Zhou Zixi has painted a place where something unspeakable has occurred – perhaps in the distant past, or perhaps in living memory, leaving a shadow behind. Zhou’s paintings are maps of memory: his landscapes, whether populated by figures or strangely empty, evoke narratives of loss and trauma, yet are open to multiple interpretations. The artist’s role, he seems to suggest, is to be the speaker of uncomfortable truths, a maker of aides-memoire, a witness.
Accession number
2016.035