China's soul

In order to celebrate the first year of her second gallery based in Shanghai, Magda Danysz invites Maleonn,Zhang Dali and Yang Yongliang to Paris. Artists from the chinese new rising generation, the three of them arerepresentative of the concerns China goes through these days.In this show Maleonn, Zhang Dali and Yang Yongliang present artworks never seen outside China before. YangYongliang choses to present a video installation about the rapid urbanisation of China. The White on Whitephotographic series by Maleonn and Second History paintings by Zhang Dali deal on the other hand withChina’s past and its memories.In White on White’s photographs, Maleonn questions the place of the man in History and thesubject of the individual memory confronted to the collective memory. Maleonn says about theseartworks, “they are not just photographs but also the recording of past emotions”. He rewritesHistory in his own way, the memory becomes clouded, memories lessen and then we discover arenewed history.Zhang Dali presents his most recent series Second History. The artist gathered dozens of images issued bypropaganda services since the creation of People's Republic of China. These are presented with the originalphotos the artist found back. By comparing both, he finds his inspiration for an extended painting series.Nonetheless there is no political controversy with Second History. Zhang Dali claims “I am an artist. If I was an historian, I’d obviously adopt a different point of view.As an artist, of course I also accept historical responsibility showing these pictures. (…) To me, the most important is visual.”