Untitled

Zeng Hao’s painting style of small figures and objects floating in space on large canvases is a signature of his. Some call him unconventional, but he was labeled a “New Imagist” by others. Imagism was a post World War II art movement originating in Chicago and based in fantasy. Hao’s work is seen as a revival of this sort of art, what with its other-worldly layout and two dimensionality. The scale of the figures and the distance between figures on the canvas is seen as portraying the emptiness of life and the disconnect between time and space. He paints very simple everyday objects in isolation, which adds to the intriguing lack of context that pervades his work.