11 Facts About Zhang Dali

Zhang Dali was the only graffiti artist in Beijing throughout the 1990s.

Zhang Dali has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, International Center for Photography in New York City, Les Rencontres d'Arles festival in France, 18Gallery in Shanghai, Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris, Courtyard Gallery in Beijing, Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, the 2006 Gwangju Biennale in Korea and Pekin Fine Arts in Beijing.

Zhang Dali is represented by Pekin Fine Arts in Beijing, Kiang Gallery in Atlanta, Klein Sun Gallery in New York City and Base Gallery in Tokyo.

Zhang Dali then started to wander the streets by night, on his bicycle with a spray can, leaving on the walls condemned to demolition a head profile and his signature AK-47 and 18K.

Zhang Dali's graffiti were the spark which became a great conflagration in the public debate on the significance, modes and finality of urban modernization.

Zhang Dali started to use this tag during the nineties in his graffiti as a synonym of the violence permeating the fast urbanization process.

The faces are copied from portrait photos Zhang Dali found in a pile of abandoned photo studio archives, sold in bulk at the flea market.

Zhang Dali poses questions about the influence of new technologies on the visual mass culture and as a form of exercised power.

Zhang Dali had access to the archives of some of the most known state publication houses, where he compared negative films and images published in those years.

Zhang Dali has experimented with large size cyanotypes covering subjects such as natural landscapes, vegetations, and human bodies.

Zhang Dali captures the spark of eternity presented in the life of each and every person.