Don Gallery is proud to annouce that Zhang Ruyi wins Prix Yishu 8 Chine 2017. Yishu 8 is a non-profiit art origanisation founded by the French philosopher and writer Christine Cayol and the Chinese businessman Xue Yunda in 2009, contributing to the cultural and artistic exchange between the East and the West by the artist-in-residence scheme, supporting Chinese and French emerging artists. Led by the chairman of Yishu 8 and former president of école nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris Henry-Claude Cousseau, Prix Yishu 8 was established in 2011 for a demonstration platform for Chinese and French emerging artists to practice and exhibit freely, facilitating the sino-French artistic communication. In 2017, Prix Yishu 8 Chine cooperates with Guerlain, adhering to the common idea of inheritance and innovation for a joint participation in exploring the art world. The selection committee of Prix Yishu 8 Chine 2017 includes Sui Jianguo (Artist and Professor at CAFA), Su Xinping (Artist and Vice President of CAFA), Huang Du (Art Critic and Curator), Henry-Claude Cousseau (Chairman of Yishu 8), Christine Cayol (Founder of Yishu 8), Larys Frogier (Director of Rockbund Art Museum), Philip Tinari (Director of UCCA) and Tony Brown (Artist, Professor at CAFA and école nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris). Zhang Ruyi is nominated by Wang Weiwei (Curator at MoCA Shanghai). The exhibition of the three finalists Cao Yu, Hu Yinping and Zhangruyi "As the Story Goes" is presented on the ground floor of Yishu 8 Maison des arts (20[jia] Dong Huangchenggen Bei Jie, Dongcheng District Beijing) till 10 May 2017.
When displayed together, those pieces by Zhang Ruyi seems to be the scenes of a pantomime. The ordinary ready-made materials in her spatial construction are strongly sentimental. This kind of feeling is repressive, obstinate, open-ended, while as enclosing as the outbreaking moments, suddenly stationed though. She is adopting a more rational manner to express her opinions on the modern society which was built on rationality but is almost losing it now. A positive confrontation? Or an effortless compromise?
- Xia Yanguo (Curator of "As the Story Goes")
Zhang Ruyi's practive mainly involves painting and installation, casting an ironic eye on the mundane life and the development of human society. She composes industrial and common objects into a new situation. There are dispassionate lines uniformed in her work, whose attributes are extented between the two and three dimensional spaces. The materials are usually industrial, including concrete, ceramic tiles, fragments of bricks, etc., but revealing a unique sense of exquisiteness and sensitiveness that contribute to an intimate ambience in her installation space.
- Wang Weiwei (Nominator of Prix Yishu 8 Chine 2017)
“事情是这样的”展览现场
Installation View of "As the Story Goes"