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. In Paradise: The Peak the elongated format and multiple skewed perspectives create an intentionally disorienting, fantastical setting. This sense of dislocation is heightened by the viewer’s aerial perspective, which affords a panoramic view of buildings and smokestacks that extends to the horizon. Both the unnatural orange surface below and the repetition of blackened, factory-like shapes create the impression of an infinite industrial landscape.

Zhu’s distinctive pink figures swarm the tiered tower that dominates the center of the composition, and are engaged in a variety of pursuits and activities. Some subjects stand or sit idly, with several of them wearing helmets and wielding metal rods. In the lower half of the painting, a man wearing a cape scales the tower on a rope. Near the top, a group of three figures cooperate to climb to the next tier. One man blows a horn while facing off into the distance, and another beats on the structure with two metal rods. A figure with his bandaged arm in a sling sits perched on a ledge drinking. In the center of the painting is sinister looking scene in which a single prone figure is straddled by a helmeted, knife-wielding figure and surrounded by several others. Nearby, another figure looms menacingly above them with large stick.

Meanwhile, at the top of the tower is a lone woman in a red qipao, or traditional Chinese dress. From her position at the peak, she looks down on the scene below with an expression of concern.

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.