Artwork Description

Title: Pine (13)
Artist: Zhang Dali
Date: 2016
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 157.5 x 96.5 in (400 x 245 cm)

Artwork Identification
Pine (13) is a monumental oil on canvas by Zhang Dali, measuring an imposing 400 by 245 cm. Part of the artist’s contemplative Pine Tree series, this large-scale composition isolates a single pine in vertical ascent—its gnarled trunk and spare foliage rendered with meticulous brushwork and atmospheric sensitivity. The monumental format lends the composition a reverential, almost shrine-like stillness, inviting meditation on time, identity, and endurance. The restrained palette and stark compositional framing strip the subject of decorative pretense, revealing it instead as a vessel for existential reflection.

Artistic Style and Influences
Executed in oil with the discipline of ink painting, Pine (13) reflects Zhang Dali’s evolving visual language—moving from the urban immediacy of his graffiti and sculptural works into a terrain of quiet symbolism and cultural introspection. While resonating with the literati tradition of pine as a symbol of moral fortitude and stoicism, Zhang introduces an austere formalism akin to minimalist and post-conceptual painting. This synthesis of Chinese classical aesthetics and contemporary conceptualism exemplifies Zhang's distinctive position in global contemporary art.

Historical Context
Emerging from an artist whose practice has spanned everything from public graffiti to photographic deconstruction, the Pine series—of which Pine (13) is a striking late entry—reveals a turn toward philosophical contemplation. Painted in the wake of rapid urban and ideological shifts in China, the solitary pine becomes an emblem of continuity and rootedness. The work quietly echoes traditional Chinese moral philosophy, while also subtly lamenting the displacement and loss inherent in modernization, urban demolition, and cultural forgetting—themes central to Zhang's larger body of work.

Provenance and Authenticity
Provenance documentation can be provided upon contact.

Condition and Conservation
The painting is in excellent condition. The canvas is taut and unlined, with no apparent structural issues. The paint surface is stable and clean, with no visible restoration or conservation interventions.

Artistic Significance
Pine (13) encapsulates Zhang Dali’s shift from overt social critique to a more introspective and symbolic visual language. It is a work of poetic stillness and conceptual clarity—anchored in Chinese tradition, yet resolutely contemporary in execution. As part of the Pine series, it represents a mature and significant body of work within Zhang’s oeuvre, offering collectors and institutions a chance to acquire a major painting by one of China's most intellectually rigorous and internationally respected contemporary artists.