ZAN JBAI

In order to create his own quite distinct works, Zan Jbai takes inspiration from the traditional qualities associated with Chinese painting: not only an emptiness where shape is set free, but also its apparent insipidness. The white veil behind which Zan Jbai paints gives his silhouettes-cum-portraits what is at times a precious softness that borders on magic, at times a great violence, all the more explicit for its silence.

It is rare that a Chinese artist turns away from the extremes of the avant-garde without resorting to a pastiche of classical painting. Zan Jbai manages to be of his time, yet continues to draw inspiration from traditional painting, not in terms of its motifs (there are no “mountains and water”, no “birds and flowers” in his work) – but in spirit. In his own words, “By avoiding directness, and with an economy of means, strength comes from emptiness”. Whilst remaining himself, he joins the ranks of the painters of ancient China, such as the masters Yuan in the thirteenth century, or Zhu Da in the seventeenth century, whose paintings give rise to a vision ten thousand times larger than the motif actually depicted.