"100 Chinese"

"100 Chinese" by Zhang Dali, Beijing. Ajr
I saw a row of mannequin heads the other day that reminded me of this fabulous sculptural work that I saw in Beijing in 2001. It’s by avante garde Chinese artist, Zhang Dali, who made a name for himself during the 1990s as Beijing’s only graffiti artist. Back then he created an ongoing work called “Dialogue”, which comprised 2000 giant heads spray painted around Beijing on buildings marked for demolition. He often hired workers to chip out the shape of the head in walls - it was his protest at the relentless demolition of old hutong areas to make way for modern construction. The whole series is documented in photographs. I saw this work, called “100 Chinese,” at Beijing’s classy Courtyard Gallery. Between 2003-2005, Zhang created 100 resin casts of migrant workers’ heads and a series of full size body casts - the latter he ‘tattooed’ and suspended upside down in a work called “Chinese Offspring.”