Artwork Description

Title: Deep Blue Sky
Artist: Zhang Dali
Date: 2014
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 57.5 x 39.4 in (146 x 100 cm)

Artwork Identification
Deep Blue Sky is a striking oil on canvas by Zhang Dali, one of China's foremost socio-political contemporary artists. Executed on a large format measuring 146 by 100 cm, the painting exemplifies Zhang’s painterly sensitivity and conceptual depth. The canvas depicts a vivid and emotionally charged atmosphere, rendered in cool tonalities and suggestive abstraction. The “deep blue” of the Title: likely references both sky and psyche, situating the viewer in a contemplative tension between external observation and internal reflection.

Artistic Style and Influences
Though Zhang is widely known for his early graffiti interventions and sculptural series, his two-dimensional works reveal a layered sensibility rooted in both figurative and conceptual traditions. Deep Blue Sky belongs to a strand of Zhang's practice that merges realism with abstraction and metaphor with critique. His palette and spatial arrangement often borrow from both classical Chinese aesthetics and Western post-war experimentation, a synergy shaped by his years in Italy and deep engagement with European art history. The subtle interplay of formal elements here recalls the atmospheric density of Gerhard Richter, while retaining a distinctly Chinese poetics of space.

Historical Context
Zhang’s return to canvas painting in the 2000s marked a critical evolution in his oeuvre, as he began to encode complex political messages within more introspective visual forms. Deep Blue Sky can be read as a meditation on freedom, surveillance, and the desire for transcendence within a rapidly transforming urban and ideological landscape. Produced during a time when Chinese society was confronting the contradictions of globalization and modernization, this work communicates an almost existential stillness—an open sky that is, perhaps, unreachable.

Provenance and Authenticity
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation
The work is in excellent overall condition. The canvas is structurally sound, and the paint surface shows no signs of damage, restoration, or discoloration.

Artistic Significance
Deep Blue Sky stands as a significant entry in Zhang Dali’s painted oeuvre—a contemplative counterpoint to the directness of his earlier urban interventions. It synthesizes his concern with social reality into a more metaphorical language, offering viewers a layered experience of psychological and spatial depth. Works of this scale and painterly refinement continue to gain traction among collectors as the art market increasingly re-evaluates Zhang’s multifaceted contributions to global contemporary art.