Jiang Zhi: Love Letters Hardcover

Jiang Zhi

Jiang Zhi's flowers 'die' before our eyes -set aflame, they are on the brink of death, not yet devoured. It is this 'decisive moment' we see -a fleeting, brazen instant, of mortality in a nutshell. Time is caught in its flight: each photograph is a powerful memento mori, like a time capsule, a miniature image of death. Jiang Zhi's photography explores the metaphysics of mortality. He makes us reconsider the ephemeral, the evanescent nature of things in the face of death. Death and love are melted together like Eros and Thanatos, but here, beauty overrides the macabre. In a very subtle and nuanced way, Jiang Zhi infuses this curse of death with touches of elegance -the flowers are almost dead, and at the same time peculiarly splendid. Death is around the corner, awaits them, but they don't care, or at least, they resist--in vain. Like a vanity, each snapshot is also a painting.

9881607876

9789881607874

English

Thircuir Limited

1/Sep/16

68

Jiang Zhi was born in Yuanqiang, Hunan province, in 1971 and graduated from the China Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou. Generally considered one of China's most diverse and avant-garde artists of his age, Jiang Zhi's artistic practice ranges widely from oil painting, video, installation, sculpture and photography. From the early stages of his artistic career, Jiang has been writing novels while taking photographs, which stems from his deep interest in poetry. Jiang Zhi has consciously positioned himself at the intersection of poetry and sociology. He was awarded the academic achievement of Reshaping History (Chinart from 2000-2009) in 2010, the Chinese Contemporary Art Golden Palm in 2009, the Asian New Force IFVA Critics Award in 2001, and also received the Chinese Contemporary Art Award (CCAA) in 2000.