True Colors: Jingze Du

Steve Turner is pleased to present True Colors, a two-part solo exhibition consisting of new paintings by Dublin-based Jingze Du. The first part features forty-one mostly small-scale paintings that depict animals precisely painted in black, white and shades of gray. These works are composed of thin layers of paint meticulously applied with an array of brushes. Viewers often assume that Du uses an airbrush and are always astonished to learn that he uses age-old techniques that he learned as a child prodigy in Yantai, China. These sweet images of cats, dogs, pigs, goats, rabbits, monkeys, ducks and other animals are installed throughout the main gallery, each one vying for our attention, love and possible adoption. However, True Colors has a second room of paintings which completely changes the mood. They are loose adaptations of famous paintings from the past and include Manet’s The Execution of Emperor Maximilian; David’s The Death of Marat; Goya’s The Third of May 1808 and Vermeer’s Woman Holding A Balance. They are also painted in shades of gray, black and white, however in contrast to the animals, they are composed of loose gestural brush strokes which obscure most of the source image. With one exception, Du chose paintings that depict historical events notable for their violence, with one outlier: the Vermeer, wherein science and reason are highlighted. Through Du’s juxtaposition of animal and human, precise and loose and adorable and horrible, he suggests a world view that is more than black and white.