About the artwork
Liang Zi illustrates the trunk and branches of a tree in such an unconventional manner that they do not give off the aura of nature most often associated with the forest and its components. Zi has an impeccable ability to replicate onto his canvas the most intricate details visible on the bark of the wood as well as the rings; his paintings reach a level of hyper realism with the precision of his colour tones and brush strokes. However, the absence of green leaves and succulent fruits suggests lifelessness of the tree. In the same way, Zi characterizes his trees or "forests" in a worn out and bleak state to represent the modern society impaired without its traditional and cultural foliage.
About the artist
Liang Zi was born in Xi'an, Shanxi Province, China in 1980. He represents tree stumps with bare, sawn-off branches against a pure white background in his paintings. Zi has an impeccable ability to replicate onto canvas the most intricate details visible on the bark of the tree as well as tree rings. His paintings reaches a level of hyper-realism with the precision of his colour tones and brush strokes.
In his paintings, tree stumps are gnarled and barren, building up a feeling of harsh winter; at the same time, Zi is able to maintain the inner warmth and life of the tree, making it seem complete often even without the branches. This represents the gradual isolation and insulation of modern man from family and society in a world of rapid, impersonal communication, symbolized by the loss of tree branches that create a canopy of interconnected relationships.