Not Only Time: Zhang Peili and Zhu Jia

Zhang Peili and Zhu Jia use of video and photography to navigate the sea of changes in contemporary China.

Coming out of a generation that witnessed the ramifications of the Cultural Revolution, the Tiananmen Massacre and the landmark 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition and its subsequent closing by state authorities, Hangzhou-based artist Zhang Peili and Beijing-based artist Zhu Jia have used the medium of video and photography since the early 1990s to navigate the sea of changes in contemporary China. Although both earned degrees in oil painting, the radical departure between their training and practice and their consistent use of video as a medium for provocation, reflection and resonance becomes the impetus for this two-person exhibition. Their bodies of work begin with a position that poignantly challenges social mores, rampant development, authoritative politics and cultural values, and expand into more universal themes of the individual, time, and the loss of innocence and idealism. Zhang and Zhu present new works for REDCAT exhibited alongside past work, providing a focused, parallel examination of their respective practices. The exhibition is the first presentation of both artists’ work in Los Angeles.