Every artist, every generation, brings with them their own experiences and their own influences, woven together by culture and history. This grants art the power of memory and symbolism, giving it depth and interpretive meaning. In Zhang’s works of glowing faces, uninhibited forms, forgotten games and resplendent simple joys- I see not only the overarching innocence and freedom of childhood, but also the riversides, the fields, the home he spent it in. In his works I see his experience, his influence, and most of all, the historic trails of a forgotten culture- keepsakes of a forgotten time.
