This catalogue is published to accompany an exhibition of paintings by Zhang Enli held at the Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai from December 2010 to February 2011. 'In his latest exhibition at Minsheng Art Museum, Zhang selects ordinary and simple objects from life, and repeats such depictions on the same object from different angles in his various works. These include a tree, box and bed. He purposely weakens the variety of contents or limits form in his paintings. This method reveals the possibilities in a language of painting itself. The series of "Tree" suggests an eternal power that goes against a blind worship for creativity, diminishing an individual desire for depiction. This simple arrangement unwittingly extends a deeper understanding towards existence. What Zhang sets out to discuss and focus his paintings towards is not the real condition or environment surrounding us; it is based on his ponderings for his surroundings, the purposely "explanation-peeling" condition for rendering a new definition for things.' —from introductory notes by curator Guo Xiaoyan. Includes artist biography.