It is Leo Gallery’s honour to hold in Shanghai the solo exhibition of emerging artist Zhu Xiangmin – “The Body Electric”. It would be an integrated manifestation of Zhu Xiangmin’s recent works in a new form.

Zhu Xiangmin’s paintings are neither figurative paintings nor abstract paintings, but more direct and perceptual paintings of “image”. He deconstructs or disembodies the brain as the centre of thinking, blurs out facial expressions, and dispels the position of human characters in the works. The images of human characters, either standing up, bending over, or twisted, extricate from the narrative meanings of figurative expression. These images express the artist’s feelings, perceptions and logic. Although one of the works is titled as “My Likeness”, it is actually against narrations and illustrations. The body in the images is certainly not the reflection of a physical body nor the artist himself, but the artist’s thinking about the world and life, showing how reflections, fantasies, and ideals are combined. The emotions and tensions are not released by the characters in the works, but are created jointly by the images, movements and colours. Therefore, the images are vague, but full of power.

In this exhibition, Zhu Xiangmin expanded the dimensions and depth of painting. He not only integrates his understanding of Walt Whitman’s poetry (Leaves of Grass), a collection of sounds, and the perception of daily life into his works, but also uses charcoal pencils in the creation of oil paintings to capture the feeling of fleetingness. Also, in order to expand the spatial tension of the paintings, the media, which is paper, is rubbed and folded. A three-dimensional effect is created by his combination of cotton cloth and paper.

The entire exhibition site will be a magnetic field that is fully charged with artistic electric charges.