"After completing the four felt paintings of torsos belonging to sculptures from different periods and places, I began to rethink some of the most frequent questions that arose during the creation of these works: who are these sculptures of? And who shaped these sculptures? 

Of course, these two questions are easy to answer. But hidden beneath them is perhaps a more interesting question to consider: what are the intentions of the Chinese (versus occidental) artist who uses his own practice to depict the classical sculptures of European antiquity? 

Conflicting histories and identities, as well as positions in different social and cultural contexts, may not be the concern of all artists, but they are nevertheless always present in an artist's reflections. I would like these four works, and the questions they provoke, to engage with and interrogate the subject matter of the exhibition they are included in, and to perhaps suggest new possibilities that exist beyond the binary of East and West." 

— Zhang Yunyao