Zhou Jirong's latest paper works, a poetic abstract take on Beijing's landscape, are now on show at Red Gate Gallery.
The master print maker has been who has been an artistitness of Beijing's urban evolution over the last thirty years. From his early screen prints printed in the eighties to his continued exploration of mix media on special hand-made paper, the artist has been an acute observer of the city skyline as hutongs alleys metamorphosed into concentric ring roads heralding the complete transformation of rustic neighbourhoods into never ending arrays of office and residential blocks.
For this exhibition, Zhou has painted a new body of works on paper that documents the ambiguous Beijing skyline into an artwork of abstract beauty. There is an Eastern sensibility in the works where the architectural silhouettes nestle in a foggy horizon and echo the poetic mist of a Song dynasty landscape.
Applying an innovative technique that incorporates silk printing techniques and application of mineral colour pigments, the resulting works on paper has a subtle texture and poesie. A semi-hidden urban cityscape is punctunated with vertical forms that hints of construction cranes, distant buildings or lamp posts. The mood is both meditative and melancholic.