Fundación´ace para el Arte Contemporáneo is pleased to introduce Zhang MinJie,  invited artist to ´ace representation at  FIGBilbao 2020 , International Printmaking and Art on Paper Festival in the beautiful city of Bilbao, Spain from November 26th to December 14, 2020.

Overlooking Zhang Min Jie 30 years of vast production one can see that his prints are composed by many visual references, both from East and West. On the one hand, they are strongly implanted in the Chinese art and history. One can easily relate the general atmosphere of his compositions with “Along the River During Qing Ming Festival”, Zhang Zeduan’s famous painting, while its characters appropriate attitudes and behaviors from the imagery of “art during the great proletarian Cultural Revolution”. On the other hand, the figurative and descriptive scenes remind us the Western tradition with Brueghel at the forefront and a Hieronymus Bosch’s shadow in the background. In addition, one can describe many other visual associations in his works: the angels’ high reliefs made by aborigines in the Baroque colonial churches in Mexico, the grandiloquent Italian operas or the sculpted porticos in gothic cathedrals are some of them.

Zhang Min Jie’s prints are like a magic potion made with several components that, once mixed, explode in something distinctively contemporary at the same time rooted in tradition. Painter and printmaker, he is also a craftsman who has exquisite technical and drawings talents. His large and panoramic compositions suggest a vision of the world informed by their technical/cultural heritage, personal experiences as well as the historical circumstances of his country. In this way, and by re-working traditional Western and Eastern aesthetics, he deals with the constantly shifting present of Chinese society, politics, and economy, while maintaining a connection to the country’s deep cultural background.

[Extract from “Dance with Destiny”, Alicia Candiani´s essay for Zhan MinJie´s solo show catalogue at the Bydgoszcz Museum, Poland, 2016]

ABOUT ‘THE STAGE’ SERIES

The Stage Series is composed of more than ten pieces to show that from the origin of human beings to modern civilization, which interprets the disharmony or humorous stories in the fields of politics, economy and culture over and over again. Through the organic combination of world’s sculpture works and design scene, it shows a sense of philosophical thinking.