Concept behind Sky series by Zhao Zhao: ‘I first began the Sky series in 2009 contemplating on the permanent pollution of Beijing where the sky is rarely blue. As I...
‘I first began the Sky series in 2009 contemplating on the permanent pollution of Beijing where the sky is rarely blue. As I was executing it, I instinctively thought about the real sky, wanting to reference some form of flow... but photographs are static. During that time, I could not see what the sky really looked like. For things I haven’t seen in a long time, I need to draw from my own memory and subconscious to depict them. In a way, behind the Sky series is my fabrication of the sky. I was returning indoors to complete a monochrome depiction of something from the outdoors. It was not reliant on photographs, or on the range of colours. I used Prussian and Rembrandt blue. This is a rather forgiving colour, which is why I say it is like ink. I used its two extremes, black and white, as well as its intermediary hue, blue. I grasped the different shades and hues that emerged between. I also constrained my own abilities as much as possible.’