Zhou Zixi

Born in 1970, Zhou Zixi currently lives and works in Shanghai and Valencia, Spain. Since the beginning of his career in 1993, Zhou’s brushstrokes have progressively evolved to depict national and population’s trauma, collective memory and oblivion, alienation of individual, as well as contemporary events and crises. Rooted in his studies of history and literature as well as a concern for human sufferings, the paintings create profound narratives of time and space, society and individual, politics and culture, disaster and daily life. A relation is then built among the works, which mutually complement and reflect one another while generating an epic-like quality. The artist sees his artistic career as an ideal architecture, which he hopes can penetrate the desolation and absurdity of the entire history of human civilization.

Without emphasizing colors, shapes or spaces, Zhou’s painting techniques mostly use drips, chaotic, fast and strong brushstrokes together with thin coatings and convey a strong desire for expression of ideas and emotions.