Zhang Wenjia's 'Drift Through Village Lanes' at Capsule Shanghai

Capsule Shanghai presents 'Drift Through Village Lanes,' a solo exhibition by Zhang Wenjia (b. 1983, Shantou, China), featuring paintings from 2024 to 2026. The show runs from April 18 to June 6, 2026, marking the artist's first solo with the gallery. Zhang's works reconfigure mundane subjects—village lanes, still lifes, figures—through memory and emotion, evoking a southern land between past and present. In 'The Earth God Temple' (2026), he omits elements to capture a tropical atmosphere with hazy blue sky, mottled yellow walls, and banana leaves, while ritual objects like phoenix-patterned tiles and golden ingots glow softly. 'The Sugarcane Vendor' (2025-26) miniaturizes a truck, letting the vendor and sugarcane dominate, influenced by Indian miniature painting, Giotto, and Matisse. 'Porcelain' (2026) compresses depth, skewing perspective like medieval frescoes, where scale indicates importance. 'Goose' (2026) depicts a plucked bird on an offering table, hovering between solemnity and absurdity. Zhang's scenes, bathed in gentle light, remain charged with contemporary life, as writer Wei Xi notes in 'Night-Shining White,' recalling childhood perceptions where reality and illusion blend.