ZHU YU

Zhu Yu graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1991. Known for his conceptual projects that challenge the limits of artistic language, Zhu Yu’ s latest works are a series of highly realistic and detailed paintings of mundane objects. The first series titled, “Stain”, are teacups viewed from directly vertical over the mouth of the cup. The patterns left by the residual tea dregs on the bottom of the cup are filled with slight changes, almost as if to reveal another world within them. Following this series, Zhu Yu has also created a series of highly realistic paintings of single pebbles. The slight variations in coloring and the miniscule indentations are shown with meticulous detail. The pebble is a metaphorical object for our understanding of form and matter. Its miniscule physicality is similar to that of a Sarira, a life that has been shrunk down to its indestructible essence. At the same time, it is expansive, similar to an ovary from which all life bears forth. All matter is reduced to a pebble; all matter is emitted from a pebble. The universal condition of the world is that all things return to their remains. In these paintings, Zhu Yu’s sole focus on the details of these remains presents this condition at its most direct and forthright.