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 Long March Space through an innovative use of materials and immaculate execution.

The interchangeability of “form” and “formless”

Departing from the concept of sculpture, Zhan Wang breaks with conventional perspectives as he re-examines the distance, perspectives and proportions of microscopic substances, investigating the “form” and “formless” properties of materials in their actual configuration in relation to the surrounding space.

Transformation of “Form” to “Formless”

"Universe” is a series of exquisitely executed sculptures that are based on two-dimensional surfaces. Zhan Wang recorded the pattern created when a fragmented rock was shattered by a sledge hammer. These broken fragments were cast in resin, plated with reflective metal, and carefully placed onto mirrored surfaces or “paper” made from mixing pulverized rock with paper pulp. The final works reference the scene of an exploded planet, the remnants of which are suspended in mid air in the space, providing a visual clue of Zhan Wang’s perspective of the universe. Time and substance are both in existence in the “form” that does not vanish into the end of a linear time.

"Concealed Rock” is a transparent resin cube containing an “invisible” artificial rock encased within it. Only when placed in bright light does the surface of the rock reflect and an incandescent shadow emerges from the edge of invisibility. Rocks, be they natural or artificial, are the re-concentration of the form by nature, a release of energy accumulated after an original destruction. The form reconstitutes itself, from the infinite possibilities provided by the “formless”.

Transformation of the “Formless” to “Form”

A long beam of light punches through the two gallery halls of the Long March Space. Within a space conventionally understood as devoid of visible matter, Zhan Wang constructs an experimental “dead space” with ultimate stillness and silence. Non-physical presence does not equal the 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 ever happened.

The darkened space also reveals a video installation that captures the process of a stone as it silently sinks to the depths of the sea, leaving space for imagination to be sought within the silence. For Zhan Wang, this exhibition is not about setting a fixed definition, but presenting the thinking process in which audiences are reminded: “You are watching something in which you are also a part of.”

The “form” inside the artist’s mind

“Everything in this world either has its form, or exists within the modality of form. One cannot simply ignore the existence of form. Disappearance, silence, seclusion, quietus and spirituality, they cannot destroy the existence of form. Existence is form, there is nowhere to hide”

– Zhan Wang

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About Zhan Wang

Born in Beijing, 1962, Zhan Wang is one of the most important contemporary artists in China today. Working in installation, photography and multimedia, his informed practice in sulpture challenges the conventional ideas of time and space.

Zhan Wang’s series "Artificial Rock" are the stainless steel replicas of the much-revered "scholar's rocks" traditionally found in Chinese gardens. Following the hollowed shapes and creased surfaces of the rock, these mirrored surfaces absorb the viewer and its surrounding environment, as distortion and uncertainty of reality. In 2010, Zhan Wang imitated the process of the natural formation of a stone in his “One Hour Equals 100 Million Years – Suyuan Stone Generator”. By using modern techniques, the machine was able to shorten the time period to create traditional Chinese scholars from several millennia to under one hour, creating a visual interplay between positions of tradition and modernity. In the project “My Personal Universe” of 2011, the artist documented the explosion of a giant boulder using a camera with a high speed shutter, and transformed its fragments into suspended stainless steel objects in the exhibition hall. Along with the replay of the rock explosion in slow motion, it provides an illusive experience of walking in the centre of a universe.

About the exhibition

Date: Oct 26, 2012--Dec 2, 2012

Venue: Long March Space

Address: 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, P.R. China

Postal address: Beijing Mail Box 8503, Beijing , P.R. China, 100015

Tel: +86 (0)10 5978 9768

Fax: +86 (0)10 5978 9764

Courtesy of the artist and Long March Space.