Spring is the season of burgeon and growth, and water is mobile, inclusive, and constantly morphing. The abstract and geometric landscape in Waters of Spring is less about the visual translation between ink landscape painting and Zhang Xiaoli’s signature “legolization” and more about an active exchange of materials. As the beholding eye moves along the stream from top to bottom, cylindrical stalactites, skeletal branches, and vein-shaped twigs grow like organic fleshes, turning the landscape into an alive and moving scenery.

Appealed by the translucency of silk and mineral-based pigment, Zhang stacks her subject matters into visible layers that suggest formations in progress rather than solid shapes in certainty. Titled “The Dawn,” the painting series imagines growth and dynamism as a primordial phase of material formation that counters enlightening determinism with a tender primitivism characterized by dexterity and liveliness. As the first painting in the series, this painting forecasts and initiates growth, emancipating our view and imagination within and beyond its frame.

春天是萌发与生长的季节，而水具有流动性、包容性，并不断变化。《春水》中的抽象几何景观，并非在水墨山水与张小黎标志性的“乐高化”风格之间进行视觉转译，而是一种材料之间的主动交流。当观者的视线沿着溪流由上至下移动时，圆柱状的钟乳石、骨架般的枝干以及脉络状的细枝如有机的肌体般生长，使整个景观转化为一个鲜活而流动的场域。

受绢本与矿物颜料的通透质感所吸引，小黎将画面主体层层叠加，形成可见的层次。这些层次暗示着一种生成的过程，而非稳固确定的形态。《既白》系列将画面中的生长与动态想象为物质形成的原初阶段，以灵活且生动的温和原始主义对抗启蒙式的决定论。作为该系列的第一幅作品，这幅画预试并开启了一段生长的进程，使我们的视角与想象力在画框内外得以解放。