Parkview Green Exhibition Hall will present Transition, the first large scale solo exhibition of young artist Zheng Lu in China, from April 1 to June 11, 2016. The exhibition, curated by renowned curator Huang Du, will present the artist’s recent creative trajectory and latest developments in thinking.
“Men do not look into running water as a mirror, but into still water. It is only the still water that can arrest them all, and keep them.” (Zhuangzi - The seal of Virtue Complete) It is only in stillness that we can see ourselves clearly, and only with a still heart that we can penetrate the mind and effect a transition in which all can come to a stop and become a mirror for reflection. This exhibition will present eight works of sculpture, installation and new media along a central axis of “stillness.” Beginning with a deep analysis of the nature of water, the artist has set out on a quest to probe time, space, existence and change.
Zheng Lu’s creations have always followed a unique linguistic logic. His recent sculptures have focused on “water” as their focus and core imagery, a carrier for multiple interlocking layers of meaning. Still Water, Shiosai, Unknown Circle and Rain Drum are continuations of this theme. Whether they are clashes of stainless steel and text, visual narratives of the roiling tides, or examinations of motion and flow in water, these works approach the material properties and social significance of water, presenting the tangible and intangible meanings of water in the language of sculpture.
The old saying goes, “The water flows on like this, endlessly, day in and day out.” Water is often used to describe the existence and passage of time. The artist uses the commonality of “flow” shared by time and water as a concept for further research and discussion on the processes and relationships of existence and change. The artwork 3000 Meters of Woe consists of three thousand meters of multicolored steel wire tangled to fill up a large space, a true illusion rooted in reality that describes and measures the existence of a material and its differential relationships. Winter Solstice, Light Breeze at Dongting Lake and All Quiet beyond the Heart utilize the natural properties of sunlight and a relatively static reference to delineate the specific existence of space, through which the artist illuminates natural existence and its processes of change.
This is the first comprehensive of the artist’s recent works and creative trends in Beijing since his successful solo exhibition Shiosai at Taipei MOCA. Roughly sixty percent of the works on display, including Winter Solstice, Rain Drum, Light Breeze at Dongting Lake and All Quiet beyond the Heart were created specifically for the Parkview Green site and are now being released to the public for the first time. The work Shiosai emerges on the foundation of its premiere at Taipei, yet in an entirely different visual form that presents audiences with new opportunities for viewing, participation and contemplation. Rain Drum has been completely reimagined using the ETFE film found in Parkview Green’s ceiling. The artist has completely covered the exhibition space with the material in its original shape, joining it with an installation of steel balls through which visitors can freely move, creating a visual scene of the sounding of a drum. This is the result of the artist’s impressions of Parkview Green in the rain.
Through his individual practice, Zheng Lu has in recent years gradually constructed and perfected his own system of artistic logic and language. He has folded concepts of material, words, water, time and space into a self-sufficient conceptual framework, forming a unique method of expression. With this, he alludes to the diverse possibilities of life, and ways of adapting to the shifting connections between nature, self-nature, and self.
Parkview Green Exhibition Hall will present Transition, the first large scale solo exhibition of young artist Zheng Lu in China, from April 1 to June 11, 2016. The exhibition, curated by renowned curator Huang Du, will present the artist’s recent creative trajectory and latest developments in thinking.
“Men do not look into running water as a mirror, but into still water. It is only the still water that can arrest them all, and keep them.” (Zhuangzi - The seal of Virtue Complete) It is only in stillness that we can see ourselves clearly, and only with a still heart that we can penetrate the mind and effect a transition in which all can come to a stop and become a mirror for reflection. This exhibition will present eight works of sculpture, installation and new media along a central axis of “stillness.” Beginning with a deep analysis of the nature of water, the artist has set out on a quest to probe time, space, existence and change.
Zheng Lu’s creations have always followed a unique linguistic logic. His recent sculptures have focused on “water” as their focus and core imagery, a carrier for multiple interlocking layers of meaning. Still Water, Shiosai, Unknown Circle and Rain Drum are continuations of this theme. Whether they are clashes of stainless steel and text, visual narratives of the roiling tides, or examinations of motion and flow in water, these works approach the material properties and social significance of water, presenting the tangible and intangible meanings of water in the language of sculpture.
The old saying goes, “The water flows on like this, endlessly, day in and day out.” Water is often used to describe the existence and passage of time. The artist uses the commonality of “flow” shared by time and water as a concept for further research and discussion on the processes and relationships of existence and change. The artwork 3000 Meters of Woe consists of three thousand meters of multicolored steel wire tangled to fill up a large space, a true illusion rooted in reality that describes and measures the existence of a material and its differential relationships. Winter Solstice, Light Breeze at Dongting Lake and All Quiet beyond the Heart utilize the natural properties of sunlight and a relatively static reference to delineate the specific existence of space, through which the artist illuminates natural existence and its processes of change.
This is the first comprehensive of the artist’s recent works and creative trends in Beijing since his successful solo exhibition Shiosai at Taipei MOCA. Roughly sixty percent of the works on display, including Winter Solstice, Rain Drum, Light Breeze at Dongting Lake and All Quiet beyond the Heart were created specifically for the Parkview Green site and are now being released to the public for the first time. The work Shiosai emerges on the foundation of its premiere at Taipei, yet in an entirely different visual form that presents audiences with new opportunities for viewing, participation and contemplation. Rain Drum has been completely reimagined using the ETFE film found in Parkview Green’s ceiling. The artist has completely covered the exhibition space with the material in its original shape, joining it with an installation of steel balls through which visitors can freely move, creating a visual scene of the sounding of a drum. This is the result of the artist’s impressions of Parkview Green in the rain.
Through his individual practice, Zheng Lu has in recent years gradually constructed and perfected his own system of artistic logic and language. He has folded concepts of material, words, water, time and space into a self-sufficient conceptual framework, forming a unique method of expression. With this, he alludes to the diverse possibilities of life, and ways of adapting to the shifting connections between nature, self-nature, and self.