This monochromatic oil painting is a realistic depiction of a pair of off-white gloves that are placed horizontally, the left above the right, against a dark background. The palm of the top glove faces up, and the palm of the bottom glove faces down. The creases and wrinkles on the gloves are highlighted by shadows. The work is one of a series of oil paintings Zhang Peili made in 1986 and 1987 that feature gloves and that were deliberately constructed without any overarching theme or narrative. For Zhang, the glove is a utilitarian object open to a range of interpretations, from protection to disease. The absence of hands in the painting suggests lifelessness and disconnection. Depicting the gloves in muted colours also removes any association with emotion and individual expression, characteristic of works by artists of the Pond Society—a group formed in Hangzhou in the late 1980s, of which Zhang was a member. The group responded to the trend of self-expression by creating works that emphasise sterility and distance. Beginning in the 1990s, Zhang extended his conceptual approach to video works.
Zhang Peili (born 1957, Hangzhou) graduated from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, in 1984 with a degree in oil painting, and previously served as Dean of the New Media Department at the same institution, later renamed China Academy of Art. He was a founding member of the Pond Society and a prominent figure of the avant-garde movement in Hangzhou in the 1980s. Primarily working in video, photography, and new media, his work acts as a form of protest to reveal the forces that shape Chinese society and the lives of its citizens. Zhang lives and works in Hangzhou.