It is virtually impossible to avoid the interference and influences that come with the process of urbanisation. Most adults have experienced it by going to a construction site to either look at or purchase an apartment. Likewise, as far as young Chinese artists are concerned, urbanisation is not only what they grew up with, but is also the backdrop for artistic creation. Nearly fifteen years ago when China’s urbanisation was in its infancy, artists had already begun to explore the relationship between the city and modern culture. Zhang Dali’s city graffiti work of the early 90s in Beijing is a good example of this, as his work subsequently inspired participation from other artists. Young contemporary artist Zhou Jun is one of those artists who, using city and city construction as his perceptual framework, explores this complex and fascinating relationship.

Growing up in Nanjing, Zhou Jun was profoundly drawn to the traditional characteristics and features of the city, while at the same time the city inspired a keen sense of Chinese traditional aesthetics. To a certain extent, his work embodies a quality of yearning for the past and broadly speaking this is a common characteristic of many artists working amidst the rich cultural and historical background of Chinese cities, such as Beijing or Shanghai. But Zhou Jun’s work emerges from city construction sites and is conceived according to his own feelings and experience thus constructing a visual narrative language of his own. He is moved by the immense swelling and expansion of Chinese cities, as well as the subversion and erosion of traditional architecture - representing Chinese culture and aestheticism - by modern industry and commerce. He uses photography to document these social phenomena and the cultural features specific to this historical period.

What sets his work apart from the rest is his use of black and white imagery and his use of red to colour certain areas of the image, specifically the scaffolding and framing in construction sites. For example, in the Hall of Supreme Harmony construction site in the middle of Beijing’s Forbidden City, the artist dyes the entire surrounding scaffolding in red. At the actual construction site itself, a life-size picture of the Hall of Supreme Harmony has been printed on the scaffolding screen in an attempt to disguise the construction site, giving visitors from all over the world a distinct visual impression of the original building. Yet in Zhou Jun’s work, this displaced scene is changed into a picture, giving the appearance of distorting history. Similar works by Zhou Jun portray the famous vaulted rotunda of Beijing’s Temple of Heaven. Manifest at the heart of these representations is how the cultural substance of classic Chinese traditional architecture has been slowly filtered and diluted through continuous renovation and urbanisation catering to tourism, the various demands of engineering projects and the process of restoration. Zhou Jun exhibits this idea by his choice of black and white imagery in an attempt to capture a yearning for the past. The red not only acts as a visual centrepiece but also provides the audience with a sense of emptiness and weightlessness. Together these characteristics act as a point of support for the viewer, impelling them to re-adjust their balance of perception and recognition.

Therefore, as you look at Zhou Jun’s works, you might regard Beijing and Shanghai’s sprawling building sites and myriad construction scenes as similar to a gigantic stage where actors fervently rehearse and put on make-up in preparation for a performance to impress the world.

This is what a city is like. This is also what the history and reality of China has always been like.

(Spring 2007, Beijing)