Zhang Dali, (born 1963)

Dialogue 2001.103B (Shanghai)

Dialogue 2001.103B (Shanghai), 2000
Archival pigment print, flush-mounted. Number '2' from the edition of 10.
sheet /flush-mount 59 x 39in (149.7 x 99cm)

Artist Zhang Dali regards these graffitied heads as a self-portrait, his "dialogue" with the city. After a period of study in Italy, for the next eleven years from 1995 to 2011, Zhang started to spray his bald-headed man on the walls of rapidly expanding Chinese cities. His series Dialogue and Demolition make use of three symbols to express his ideas - the first, as here, the simplified outline of his head signifying his sheer presence, the second and third, the use of two terms "AK-47" and "18K" chosen to represent the violence and greed associated with this rapid urbanization.