Zhan Wang: Form of the Formless
2012.10.26-12.02
26 Oct 2012, Beijing, China
How is “form” created and established within the“formless”? Working in sculpture, printmaking, video and installation,artist Zhan Wang presents his unique personal view of this question at LongMarch Space through a innovative usage of materials and immaculate execution.
The interchangeability of “form” and“formless”
Departing from the concept of sculpture, Zhan Wang breakswith conventional perspectives as he re-examines the distance, perspectives andproportions of the microscopic substances, investigating the “form” and“formless” properties of materials in their actual configuration in relation tothe surrounding space.
Transformation of “Form” to “Formless”
"Universe” is aseries of exquisitely executed sculptures that are based on two-dimensionalsurfaces. Zhan Wang recorded the pattern caused by a fragmented rock shatteredwith a sledge hammer. These broken fragments were cast in resin, plated withreflective metal, and carefully placed onto mirrored surfaces or “paper” madefrom mixing pulverized rock with paper pulp. The final works reference thescene of an exploded planet, the remnants of which suspend mid air in thespace, providing a visual clue of Zhan Wang’s perspective of the universe. Timeand substance are both the existence of the “form” that does not vanish intothe end of a linear time.
"Concealed Rock” isa transparent resin cube containing an “invisible” artificial rock encasedwithin. Only when placed in bright light does the surface of the rock reflectand an incandescent shadow emerges from the edge of invisibility. Rocks, bethey natural or artificial, are the re-concentration of the form by nature, arelease of energy accumulated after an original destruction. The formreconstitutes itself, from the infinite possibilities provided by the“formless”.
Transformation of the “formless” to “form”
A long beam of light punches through the two galleryhalls of the Long March Space. Within a space conventionally understood asdevoid of visible matter, Zhan Wang constructs an experimental “dead space”through ultimate stillness and silence. Non-physical presence does not equalthe non-existence of the form. The dust under the beam light is the “form”captured in between time and space. Dust is the remainder of all that has everhappened.
The darkened space also reveals a video installation thatcaptures the process of a stone as it silently sinks to the depths of the sea,leaving space for imagination to seek out within the silence. For Zhan Wang,this exhibition is not about setting a fixed definition, but presenting thethinking process in which audiences are reminded: “You are watching somethingin which you are also a part of.”
The “form” inside the artist’s mind
“Everything in this world either has its form, or existswithin the modality of form. One cannot simply ignore the existence of form.Disappearance, silence, seclusion, quietus and spirituality, they cannotdestroy the existence of form. Existence is form, there is nowhere to hide” –Zhan Wang
About Zhan Wang
Born in Beijing, 1962, Zhan Wang is one of the mostimportant contemporary artists in China today. Working in installation,photography and multimedia, his sculpturally informed practice challenges theconventional ideas of time and space.
Zhan Wang’s series "Artificial Rock" are thestainless steel replicas of the much-revered "scholar's rocks"traditionally found in Chinese gardens. Following the hollowed shapes andcreased surfaces of the rock, these mirrored surfaces absorb the viewer and itssurrounding environment, as distortion and uncertainty of reality. In 2010,Zhan Wang imitated the process of the natural formation of a stone in his “OneHour Equals 100 Million Years – Suyuan Stone Generator”. By using moderntechniques, the machine was able to shorten the time period to createtraditional Chinese scholars from several millennia to under one hour, creatinga visual interplay between positions of tradition and modernity. In the project“My Personal Universe” of 2011, the artist documented the explosion of a giantboulder using high-speed camera, and transformed its fragments into suspendedstainless steel objects in the exhibition hall. Along with the replay of therock explosion in slow motion, it provides an illusive experience of walking inthe centre of a universe.
(text source: Long March Space website)