Titled 'Faces', the inaugural exhibition at Hauser & Wirth's new location in Hong Kong will feature new paintings byZhang Enli created in the past three decades. The nearly 100 works on view include figurative paintings from the1990s to early 2000s and the artist's everyday objects series from the 2000s to early 2010s, along with abstract works from the early 2010s until the present day. These gestural canvases reflect Zhang Enli's progression to looser,freer brushwork that has become prominent in the artist's style in recent years and reveals the artist's compellingand continued exploration into abstract form. While anchored in figuration with descriptive titles, Zhang Enli seeksto capture the 'essence' of his subjects rather than their physical representation through these works. His soloexhibition at the Long Museum, Shanghai opens on 7 November 2023.
Zhang Enli first gained acclaim in the 1990s for symbolic, figurative paintings. Within these early works, theperspective was often skewed to heighten the drama of the object's shape, or to enlarge its symbolic importance.Zhang Enli has frequently returned to a personal iconography centred on the more prosaic aspects of contemporarylife, drawn to imagery of quotidian objects that are sensitively rendered and imbued with stories. In more recentyears, the artist has turned to the outside world, urban dwellings and nature, blurring the boundaries between insideand out. In a series of installations, known as Space Paintings, Zhang Enli paints directly onto the walls of a room tocreate immersive environments. These range from the abstract, where colour and gesture recall sights and soundsof a particular place, to more figurative reproductions.
Using the outside world as a mirror, Zhang Enli documents the more prosaic aspects of contemporary life. He regularly works with everyday objects that he is instinctively drawn to, for example a piece of string, a hose, or even a marble ball from the floor of his studio. Zhang Enli often magnifies his subjects until a specific fragment of a scene is depicted, as if enlarged through the viewfinder of a camera. This technique is especially present in recent abstract works such as The Garden (2017).
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by Partner and Vice President Marc Payot. A family business with a global outlook, Hauser & Wirth has expanded over the past 26 years to include outposts in Hong Kong, London, New York, Los Angeles, Somerset and Gstaad. The gallery represents over 70 artists and estates who have been instrumental in shaping its identity over the past quarter century, and who are the inspiration for Hauser & Wirth’s diverse range of activities that engage with art, education, conservation and sustainability.
