ZHANG JIE

Zhang Jie was selected as one of China’s top 20 emerging young artists in the Dragonair Emerging Chinese Artist Awards 2005, as judged by Gerard Goodrow (director of Art Cologne) and Jeff Kelley (curator of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco). Zhang Jieself-portraits, with the melancholy blue shades of paint, the twisted bodily positions, and the anxious, wide-eyed facial expressions, create the impression of an individual ill-at-ease in her environment.  So raw and naked are Zhang Jie paintings that one feels almost voyeuristic looking at the portraits.  One senses that the act of painting is cathartic for Zhang Jie; that sharing her anxieties so openly enables her to come to terms with them.

‘Narcissism is the common attribute of my artwork (…).  I want to anatomize myself with scissors in my hands, to analyze myself as a female artist, a woman and a human being,’ proclaims Zhang Jie.  

Crucially interlinked in this exploration of the self is Zhang Jie’s relation to the world around her.  She is well aware of the stresses that individuals face in today’s world – the financial demands, the pressure to be physically attractive, the general rapid pace that propels our lives forward.