Zhang Enli
The Broken Sofa, 2017
Oil on canvas
220 x 180 cm / 86 5/8 x 70 7/8 in
© Zhang Enli
Courtesy the Artist and Hauser & Wirth
The Garden
Opening Thursday, January 25 at Hauser & Wirth 22nd Street, 6 pm to 8 pm. On view through April 7.
Some abstract art is indeed just blotches of color, shape, and brushstroke. But some art that looks abstract, such as the works of Zhang Enli, could in fact be a version of hyperrealism. The subjects of Enli’s paintings are often recognizable landscapes, such as the gardens peppered throughout Shanghai, zoomed in far enough to become unrecognizable and in doing so, take on a new type of beauty. However, there’s only the partial presence of hyperrealism in Enil’s works, as they’re modeled off of real imagery but imbued with his own personal interpretation. Is that swirl green because it was originally green, or does it look that way because the artist made it so? You can give your best guess, but not knowing is part of the fun.
