Zhu Jinshi

This work has been kindly donated by the artist

“My work reflects a mixture of two cultures. This mixture is a dilemma but also a connection; it is a confrontation but at the same time a harmony. In fact, we can’t escape from this mixed feeling.” – Zhu Jinshi 

Zhu Jinshi’s abstract canvases, The Era of Contagious Contact, are captivatingly textural, with swathes of vigorously applied layers of paint. Zhu Jinshi uses "piling," "stirring," and "lifting" techniques to imbue his works with this depth, dynamism, and a sense of three-dimensionality, thereby accentuating the materiality of the pigments and commanding a near sculptural presence. The works also include patches of unpainted canvas: a rest for the eyes. In traditional Chinese scroll painting such empty spaces are as important; called liu bai, or ‘leave blank’. Jinshi has likened his empty spaces to “smashing through the silence.” 

Born in 1954 in Beijing, China, Zhu Jinshi is a pioneer of Chinese Abstract Art. Not formally trained as an artist, he began to paint and draw during rest breaks at the factory in which he worked. He then moved to Berlin, Germany in 1986 where he witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1994, he returned to China, dividing his time between Berlin and Beijing. Thereafter, he has experimented beyond his abstract canvases, with performances, installations, and conceptual art.