Exhibition · Arden Gallery · Other
Zhang He’s oil paintings convey a visceral engagement with his natural surroundings. His bold, gestural brushstrokes demonstrate a unique physicality and spontaneity. Through a dynamic language of abstraction, the artist seeks to evoke the depth of human emotions. Zhang is fuelled by the pursuit of the unknown and the unexpected, attempting to capture fleeting moments of beauty drawn from nature, the changing seasons, human relationships, and all living beings. His thickly textured, almost sculptural paintings communicate a sense of presence and immediacy that is both familiar and unpredictable, drifting between contentment and desire. Zhang He's paintings depict fleeting moments. With his lush, densely textured surfaces he aspires to convey a sense of timelessness, while also speaking to a universal truth...the human desire to cling to the present moment. Zhang’s work embodies this process as a philosophy of life, constantly in search of freedom through the colors, brushstrokes, and textures. Like a choreographer directing movement, he masterfully pulls together multitudes in order to impart a compositional harmony. The result reveals for the viewer an emotional depth and a fundamental state: being present.