Michael Weinstein

In a magnificent tour de force, Zhang Dali combed through Chinese print media from the Maoist period, extracting photographs that had been doctored for propaganda purposes, and then went on a painstaking journey throughout the country, tracing the originals in countless archives. The result is an exquisite primer of ninety-one panels pairing digitally scanned images that drives home the point that what we see is not always exactly what was there. The transformative strategies range from cropping and eliminating distracting details from the original, to enlarging and adding color, clarity and new backgrounds and details to the final product, all of which elevate the central subject--the Great Leader and his cadres, the heroes of the revolution or the stalwart workers and peasants--a notch above banality and towards idealization. Almost all of the manipulations are modest and simply accentuate the positive; the Maoist media did not hold a candle to American advertising.

Zhang Dali shows at Walsh Gallery, 118 North Peoria, (312)829-3312, through July 15.
(2006-06-21)

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