Artwork Description

Title: Plaza 20
Artist: Zhang Dali
Date: 2014
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 14.2 x 37.4 in (36 x 95 cm)
Framing: Framed

Artwork Identification
Plaza 20 is a compelling oil on canvas by renowned Chinese conceptual artist Zhang Dali, measuring 36 by 95 cm. Presented in a frame, this panoramic-format work is part of Zhang’s exploration of urban experience and political symbolism. The horizontal composition draws the eye across a compressed scene that, while seemingly quiet in palette and execution, carries an undercurrent of ideological tension and spatial control—central themes in Zhang’s oeuvre.

Artistic Style and Influences
Zhang Dali’s stylistic range encompasses graffiti, cyanotype photography, sculpture, and painting, all driven by a critical examination of modern Chinese society. Plaza 20 belongs to a body of works rooted in painting, in which he applies his activist gaze to oil on canvas. The Title: evokes public space—charged arenas where history, protest, and memory intersect. Zhang’s visual language is informed by both Western art history, especially postwar conceptualism, and the Chinese propaganda aesthetic he frequently subverts. His years in Italy brought an additional sensitivity to compositional balance and humanist perspective.

Historical Context
Emerging in the post-Tiananmen generation of artists, Zhang Dali forged a radical path through Beijing’s rapidly urbanizing landscape during the 1990s. In Plaza 20, one can trace the influence of this period—when the artist was pasting profile silhouettes on demolition walls across the capital—reconfigured into painterly reflection. The "plaza" becomes a metaphor for civic visibility and erasure, evoking the role of public space in Chinese political consciousness. This piece may also be associated thematically with his 2014 Square series exhibited at Klein Sun Gallery in New York, which reimagined urban environments as psychological and ideological stage sets.

Provenance and Authenticity
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation
The work is in excellent condition. The canvas is structurally sound with no visible paint loss, warping, or surface abrasions. The oil paint appears stable, and the frame is clean and well-suited for exhibition or private display.

Artistic Significance
Plaza 20 distills Zhang Dali’s enduring engagement with themes of surveillance, space, and resistance. Though modest in scale, the painting resonates with conceptual depth and formal control. As part of a broader body of socially engaged Chinese contemporary art, this work exemplifies Zhang’s ability to translate urban reality into poetic, politically charged compositions. It represents a significant acquisition for collectors of Chinese avant-garde and post-1989 critical realism.