Zhang Hui has been included in exhibitions throughout China and Europe and has established herself as an important figure in the contemporary Chinese art world. Zhang Hui graduated (1993) from the prestigious Sichuan Academy(China) of Fine Arts and now lives and works in Beijing.
Artist’s Statement:
I focus my work on women and explore their lives,
love, social and political status as well as the
effects of commercialization and spiritual values. I
try to find my own way to express these ideas. Art is
also a release for me. Sometimes it is hard for me to
show my artwork because there are many layers and many
secrets buried within them.
The subjects of my work have always
been women. I am inspired by depictions of women from
many different sources. I am interested in the
heroines of Chinese cinema from the thirties with
their apple-shaped faces, women from the imagery
produced during the Cultural Revolution, beautiful
girls from advertisements, fashionable girls… After
many years of creation and exploring the subject of
women, I slowly discovered my own style and created
Beijing Wawa. She is sad, rebellious, lonely and
sometimes quiet. She has a peach shaped baby face, a
heart-shaped upper lip, a little nose that is slightly
upturned, four black eyelashes and hair like angel
wings. I think everybody can be an angel, but girls
make the most beautiful angels.
Everybody gets hurt once in a while
living in this world. I fell down when I was a child
and I still have a small scar on my forehead, like
Beijing Wawa, and maybe you have a scar too or maybe
you have a small scar in your heart that we can’t
see. Scars can sometimes heal, but the memory always
remains.
In the grand scheme of things, our
lives are short and almost insignificant — everyone
is lonely living in this world. This is why most of my
artworks depict just one lonely little girl in her own
private world. Within these images, Beijing Wawa
expresses herself freely and she will live forever.
Please pay attention to the name of my
little girls: Beijing Wawa or Beijing Baby. I live in
Beijing. I’m a little kid. I want to become more
beautiful and more fashionable. I want to have
beautiful dresses. I want to have cotton candy. I want
to be happy. Do you want to go back to being a child?
My goal is to simply accept anger and sadness, while
enjoying the happiness in my life.
