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      Coverage: “Subliminal Matrix” Solo Exhibition by Zhang Ji at Volery Gallery, Dubai

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      Last September 22nd, Volery Gallery opened Subliminal Matrix, a solo exhibition by Beijing-based Chinese painter Zhang Ji. This exhibition showcases a precisely calibrated selection of 12 paintings, created from 2018 – 2020, which demonstrates Zhang’s wholehearted engagement with the very structures and systems of painting. Subliminal Matrix is a collaboration of Volery Gallery with art collector and advisor Fabien Fryns who has been active in the contemporary art scene since 1986.The series, simply titled The Skin of Truth, features the artist’s minimalistic yet richly intricate detailed artworks which appear to radiant into immediate material presence whereupon he shapes the aesthetical effect. From earthy tones to magnetic blue and crimson red etc, Zhang used a variety of rich, bright hues as well as pure white, black and grey etc.His process calls attention to the paintings’ silken surfaces, loaded with oil paint; strengthened with the sheer physicality and expressive power of his medium. Gazing at these ethereal, atmospheric embossed-like paintings provide the viewers the sensation of a commanding optical quality, floating freely, bulged and ebbed, as if unanchored by gravity.In this exhibition, each composition is an independent work but also integral to the whole. Each work, elucidated the others, commenting on proportion, texture and the handling of the medium. The glossy was juxtaposed with the matte, the flat with the protruded, and the monochromatic and polychromatic panelling. Viewed together, these paintings convey a sense of symbolic matrix that can readily shift in relation to the painterly space and viewer’s angles of perception, yet captured visceral at its most subliminal.True to the paintings’ original premises, in this series, Zhang has painted with a restless, innovative and complete technical mastery. Each artwork is a fresh visual adventure with a strong sense of continuity not only as themselves, but also in relation to one another. The artist proves that you don’t have to go colossal to convey epic themes. But if one is to engage them on his/her own terms, they slowly reveal themselves as the artist’s response to his life observation and they allow the sense of things being painted and how we imagine the world through the imageries whereupon Zhang shapes a kind of expanded interrelation, articulated through correspondences of colour, shape and material inspiring trajectories of thought and narrative across the painterly properties.All in all, Zhang’s paintings evoke familiarity and memory in their vastness of collective illumination.Check out below for more photos of Subliminal Matrix and its opening night.The exhibition will run until 12th of October, 2021. 1:00 PM – 7:00 PM at Volery Gallery, Dubai International Financial Center, UAE. RSVP required. Book a visit here. More

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      “Subliminal Matrix” Solo Exhibition by Zhang Ji at Volery Gallery in Dubai, UAE

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      Zhang Ji is an artist whose sweeping-colours of paintings focus on mosaicked patterns or relief-centred geometrics, laid down edge to edge. Spare, elegant and texturized, his paintings offer a delicate balance between composition and decomposition, sturdiness and ephemerality. They begin as strikingly, repetitious patterns, but then move beyond, toward a consummate painterly expression.In this exhibition opening at Volery Gallery and entitled Subliminal Matrix, this precisely calibrated selection of 12 paintings, created from 2018 – 2020, demonstrates Zhang’s wholehearted engagement with the very structures and systems of painting. The series, simply titled The Skin of Truth, features the artist’s minimalistic yet richly intricate detailed artworks which appear to radiant into immediate material presence whereupon he shapes the aesthetical effect.“The Skin of Truth 58”, Oil on canvas, 2017Approximating a studied observation of sacred sites with their classical designs and backgrounds, Zhang possesses an instinctive talent for meticulously working in forms, shapes and structures. The Beijing-based artist is primarily drawn to the harmony and rhythm of religious architectonics for their tactility, physical presence, and in creating complex straight lines-making grids or parallel diagonals within fragments of decorated motifs.From earthy tones to magnetic blue and crimson red etc, Zhang used a variety of rich, bright hues as well as pure white, black and grey etc. His process calls attention to the paintings’ silken surfaces, loaded with oil paint; strengthened with the sheer physicality and expressive power of his medium. Gazing at these ethereal, atmospheric embossed-like paintings provide the viewers the sensation of a commanding optical quality, floating freely, bulged and ebbed, as if unanchored by gravity.Zhang sees his paintings as meditative. Thus, the resulting works are  calming, luminous forms rendered in an irresistible palette; striking for its subtle yet dramatic patch of illumination, which is perhaps their greatest appeal. It is a poetic exercise in giving colour and texture enough weight to stand alone, without the support of delineated forms.All in all, Zhang’s paintings evoke familiarity and memory in their vastness of collective illumination.Scroll down below to have a sneak peak on Subliminal Matrix exhibition.“The Skin of Truth 104” Oil on canvas, 2019“The Skin of Truth 9” 5Oil on canvas, 2018“The Skin of Truth 105” Oil on canvas, 2019 More

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      Coverage: “Earth Vessel” Solo Exhibition by Andrew Schoultz at Volery Gallery, Dubai

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      Last May 27th, Volery Gallery opened Earth Vessel, Andrew Schoultz’s first solo exhibition and representation in the Gulf region. The exhibition explores the symbolic and literal meaning of an earth vessel as a metaphor for the human’s existence and body. Reflecting on the fact that maintaining physical and mental health leads to balance, while balance allows us to be present resulting in a positive effect on our surroundings.Schoultz has a visual approach to social and political commentary. His enormous murals, paintings, installations and sculptures are heavily patterned, creating an intense and mesmerising vision of current events. Earth Vessel exhibition will run until 22 June 2021.With nine new artworks on view, Schoultz raises questions about what vessels as mortal human bodies contain physically, mentally, subconsciously and spiritually and how they are affected by external factors. The duality of the motifs he uses in his work reflects on the way opposites exist simultaneously in the universe around us. He captures the results of balancing these opposites as well as the consequences of losing that stability. Through reoccurring symbols in his works, Schoultz leaves the meaning open for interpretation by the viewer. His optical and abstract shapes where lines of overheated reds and yellows intersect with the vivid blues and greens call the viewer to contemplate what is meant to be felt rather than seen.Take a look below for more images of the exhibition and its opening night. Photo Credits: Alina Khamatova More

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      Coverage: “Domesticity” Group Exhibition at Volery Gallery, Dubai

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      Last March 15th, Volery Gallery opened Domesticity, its inaugural exhibition curated by Sasha Bogojev Curator and Contributing Editor at Juxtapoz Magazine. The group exhibition presents a selection of all-new, previously unseen, original works by 17 international artists. The presentation revolves around the exploration of interior spaces as the fated environment for mankind. The exhibition brings together works by artists whose practice has always been revolving around the depiction of their domestic environment, such as Cherkit; Lozano; Ralaivao and Treiber. As well as the works of artists whose interest frequently switches between their outdoor and indoor surroundings, including Brown; Dieng; Heidkamp and Yanai. Also presented are artists whose work results from diverse studio/homebound explorations and that includes Ayotunde; Barriga; Benzo; Kerwick and Kindberg. Domesticity primarily pays tribute to our destined old/new habitat. Depicting different angles of universally recognised domiciliary settings along with details capturing the familiar warmth of home surroundings, the works are also imbued with the thread of tension, anxiety, or even eeriness. With troubling uncertainty awaiting behind the walls of these safe enclosures, the artists are capturing the beauty and cosiness of the abode while suggesting the outside’s gloom.With the hope that the coming months will allow us all to switch our focus back beyond our doors and windows, Domesticity is symbolically marking this historic moment in time and the way it affected our eternal need to capture and express ourselves. -Sasha BogojevScroll down below and take a look at more images of the exhibition and its opening night. Photo Credits: Alina Khamatova, CBB Photography More