Zhang Zhenyu, first solo exhibition with the gallery and in Malaysia displays 8 recent dust paintings created between 2014 – 2016. Through a careful repetitive process of gluing found dust sourced from city streets onto the canvas and constructing them through layering, the artist would grind the surface until a polished smooth reflective finish is achieved and a smoky image is conjured. Zhang believes in using simple or even a single expression to convert modest materials into conceptual carriers. Observing the urban reality of modern China and the rampant urbanization, the artist considers dust, a material that is simultaneously omnipresent and intimate in our live as no longer fully natural, but a combination of the by-products of pollution, construction and development happening in the fast-paced developing country.
