Self-Portrait
Zheng Haozhong
郑皓中
Production date
2017
Object Detail
Media
oil and spray paint on canvas
Measurements
120 x 100 cm
Notes
As in the other self-portraits in this series, the artist is captured in the act of painting. Against a roughly brushed dark background, he gazes out of the painting in the manner of a self-portrait by a western old master painter, yet only his face and striped shirt are painted with anything more than an outline. Zheng Haozhong shows his awareness of art history yet at the same time he disavows any attention to follow its canonical strictures. For his solo show in Beijing in 2017 his gallery described his works as ‘audaciously bare-boned leaving an emptiness which is surprising and a little unnerving exposing a disconnection between real and pictorial space’. Zheng’s skill and knowledge as a painter is never in doubt – his works eschew all unnecessary detail, often leaving areas of blank canvas, yet each work is dramatically compelling and absolutely complete.
Accession number
2019.063