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Apocalypse in Oils: Jia Aili's dark take on the rise of China

Jia Aili was born in the northern Chinese city of Dandong in 1979, a town on the North Korean border known for its icy winters and gloomy horizons. And the melancholic mood of these surroundings certainly seems to have influenced the tone of his oil paintings.

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A masked figure in white robes with blue accents gestures towards a small mushroom cloud rising from dark water against a black sky

Combining contemporary art with the traditional figurative style of the Old Masters, Aili's work conveys a sense of morbid fascination with the technological progress and drastic changes in China over the past 50 years. His epic, visionary paintings typically centre around isolated, masked figures in the midst of merciless, apocalyptic surroundings, conveying a brutally intense sense of alienation from the modern world.

Now a new book is bringing together his best work from recent decades. Published by Hatje Cantz, Stardust Hermit, Aili’s first monograph, depicts a futuristic scenario in which humankind is merely a fleeting episode.

Astronaut in a white helmet and dark spacesuit with a visor and breathing apparatus against a black background, rendered in oil paint
Oil painting of an astronaut's face visible through a helmet visor, rendered with expressive brushstrokes in muted tones by Jia Aili
Solitary figure in white protective suit and helmet stands with arm outstretched against a dark, stormy background in an oil painting by Jia Aili
Stormy apocalyptic landscape with lightning striking a desolate industrial scene, dark clouds overhead and a red structure amid ruins and debris
Derelict aircraft wreckage sprawls across a barren landscape beneath stormy skies in Jia Aili's apocalyptic oil painting
A solitary masked figure stands amid tangled, translucent white and grey strands in Jia Aili's apocalyptic oil painting, evoking technological chaos and human isolation
A masked figure sits among surreal dead tree branches entwined with industrial trumpets and machinery against a turquoise sky in Jia Aili's oil painting
A figure in dark clothing stands on a white circular platform amid wreckage and debris, with stormy skies and lightning illuminating the apocalyptic landscape behind them
Charcoal sketch of a solitary figure in profile standing among abstracted mechanical and spherical forms on a white background
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