Zhang Ruyi

Forced Separation

€1,200

Edition of 1527.5 (H) × 35.0 (W) cmShipping est. 2 weeks

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Allegorical cacti float above a grid in a copper plate etching by Zhang Ruyi.

Ruyi uses cacti to represent herself. The ‘forced separation’ of organic forms and rigid systems is a consistent theme in her work, and she keeps a daily log of the plants she cultivates by sketching them onto graph paper.

Forced Separation transforms one of the artist's early drawings into a copper plate etching for the first time. This particular type of etching was her medium of choice as a student. In the artwork, a layered orange grid contains a row of cacti – rendered in a “state of dying” and reconfigured from life to fit within its constraints.

“The title is a relatively objective description. It represents an expression of performance and an individual's blurred emotions within a densely structured urban environment.”

Close-up of Zhang Ruyi as she stands on a green stairway

Zhang Ruyi1 collaborationZhang questions everything. Her intuitive mixed-media practice juxtaposes materials to reframe ideas of everyday life. Exploring the relationship between personal identity and the urban landscape, her central motif – cacti – functions as an unlikely self-portrait. Meditating on the effects of rapid urbanisation, Zhang creates subversive, and quietly surreal interior displays in concrete. By hand-casting cement with a mould, Zhang enshrines the quintessential construction material in plant form. She also uses ceramic grid tiles, an architectural pattern that frequently features in Chinese urban neighbourhoods, and originally inspired by the patterning of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian – its repetition tranquil and harmonising.

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Reviews from Avant collectors

Notifications and packaging were spot on. I will definitely make future purchases.
Review of Iris
love the packaging of the print. superb.
Review of Super Glow
the print is amazing. cant wait to frame and hang.
Review of Rainbow Bridge
Every detail about this work is brilliant, especially the work itself. Thank you for bringing an incredible talent pool of artists to the public.
Review of Scaffold
Excellent on every level - buying experience, communication, framing and packaging by (which was exceptional) and of course, the actual artwork - it is stunning in real life - really delighted.
Review of Guardian
the packaging was excellent! the piece was well protected. communication from the time i placed the order to framing to shipment was very good
Review of Actual Size
First of all, the prints was everything we expected. What was a pleasant surprise was the impeccably packaged shipment of the work which went above and beyond anything we would have expected. Great communication and service.
Review of Fuzz Gathering
very happy with everything, the piece is better than I expected. Taking it to the framer next week :) thanks!
Review of Centrifuge

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