sculpture; stand BM-2011-3017.1

Period:Unknown Production date:2005
Materials:stainless steel, wood,
Technique:moulded, welded, polished, carved,
Subjects:rock/mineral
Dimensions:Height: 50 centimetres Width: 30 centimetres Depth: 20 centimetres

Description:
Sculpture in the form of a Chinese scholars’ rock from Lake Tai. Made of polished stainless steel, on a dark wood stand decorated with ruyi sceptre motifs. AP edition, 1 of 2.
IMG


Comments:Zhan Wang has won international acclaim for his sculptures and installations since the 1990s. He is best known for his works that transform traditional Chinese “scholars’ rocks” by producing them in the medium of polished, mirror-like stainless steel.The authority on contemporary Chinese art, Britta Erickson, explains some of the overriding concerns and thought patterns that govern Zhan Wang’s work. The artist “is concerned with the relationship between the opposing forces of old and new, natural and man-made form…living between these forces is becoming increasingly difficult for China’s urbanites as cities in China grow into modern steel and glass metropolises almost overnight….His series of stainless steel rocks…recreates a traditional form in a modern material.”Zhan Wang’s work grows out of the traditional Chinese cultural practice of collecting and displaying natural, craggy rocks as garden and indoor “sculptures”, but reworks the idea by switching to the modern material of stainless steel. This transformation offers a comment on continuity with the past but also with wry comment on the rupture that has occurred with the rapid speed of change in China and the ensuing loss of untouched natural spaces.Zhan Wang’s “rocks” are created by moulding sheets of pliable stainless steel around an actual rock. He then removes the sheets and reassembles and welds them together to form a hollow stainless steel “rock”, which he polishes to a mirror-like shine. His sculptures give the appearance of a solid form, yet they are hollow, which is just one example of the pairing of “yin-yang” opposites that is an important part of the conceptual framework for his work.The most significant aspect of complementary duality seen in his rock sculptures is the simultaneous expression of terra firma and of water—and this simultaneous expression is innovative because traditional scholar’s rocks were tied only to the concept of “land”, not water. While Zhan’s steel sculptures closely resemble rocks, because of their shimmering, reflective surface, they also simultaneously embody the quality of water. In this manner, Zhan Wang manages to capture the essence of “landscape”, which is expressed in Chinese as “shanshui” –literally, “mountain” and “water”. For many centuries, Chinese people have prized beautifully contorted rocks and placed them in gardens near pools of water, thereby taking Nature writ large and expressing it in the microcosm of a personal household dwelling.In the densely built modern urban world, Zhan Wang has sought in his stainless steel rocks to bring a new transformed, updated version of nature into the public domain. His works are created on a continuum of scale from monumental sculptures for outdoor plazas to sculptures the size of Rock 82 for indoor display. This practice is analogous to the Chinese custom of scholar’s rocks for gardens and for interior display.Zhan Wang is one of contemporary China’s most thoughtful artists working on the theme of combining “old and new, natural and manufactured, and real and illusionary” into a harmonious whole. This habit of pairing opposites has been a leitmotif of Chinese art for centuries and Zhan brings new expression to this fundamental principal. His work can be displayed in Hotung Gallery 33 in juxtaposition with the Ming and Qing dynasty examples of natural scholar’s rocks already held in the collection to make a point about change and continuity in Chinese art in the 21st century.