Zhu Zhiwei’s paintings dwell on the incredible scale of China’s industrialization, and the relationship between modern city-dwellers and the man-made environment that they inhabit. Modern Behemoth No. 1 depicts a multi-tiered, abstracted mass of blackened machinery and its twelve orange inhabitants. The wild brushstrokes that surround this structure convey a sense of wild motion and instability, which is reinforced by the viewer’s low vantage point and the cable swinging from the crane on the right. The dripping streams of black paint give a feeling of gravity and oily grime.

The twelve cartoonish characters are disproportionately large compared to the cranes and superstructure, but their oversize heads give them an infant-like appearance. They frolic about, while some vandalize machinery with glee. They appear to be unaware of the precarious state of the platform, much less its original purpose. The overall impression is that of an unsupervised industrial playground hurtling wildly through space.

A word from The Artist

Industrialization is the main theme of my work; the background of which is like a jigsaw puzzle - an arrangement comprising all sorts of elements. I am interested in the people’s lifestyle and their feelings of nostalgia in the midst of large-scale industrialized production. Images of child-like figures living an ordinary life in giant factories epitomize the incongruities and absurdities of contemporary life amidst the high-speed development of China’s cities. The factories that we build with our own knowledge and sweat propel our economic progress, but In front of these factories, individual people appear insignificant and powerless. Each viewer brings his own complex associations and recollections into the world that I have constructed.

My works often contain simultaneously real and imaginary industrial elements, as well as rich scenes of everyday life. All of these the thoughts and images originate from my own ordinary life. Anxiety and uneasiness, absurdity and panic, confusion and grievance, hope and despair can all be found in my works.

With steel and concrete structures as homes, in an increasingly industrialized landscape, the whole world has become distorted beyond recognition.