Artist:
Wang Zhan
Title:
Artificial Rock #143
Year:
2009
Adress:
Biennale (contemporary)
Website:
reflection
We are confused by a big shiny rock in the citycenter. We don’t recognize this. We recognize a stone in a local park as a decoration. We recognize a statue of a historical figure as an artwork.
Do we accept confusion? We are very focused: we want to carry out a specific job because of our job or relationship so we get the desired result. However this artwork doesn’t fit in this: Artificial Rock #143 makes no contribution to the specific task and result. When will we stop our hastily moving to stand still, to think, to feel?
I can tell about the Chinese meaning of a stone or a shiny surface. However, this is still no contribution.
Still we are too focused on the specific task and result. We are too compliant. We don't dare to take a moment to reflect, to think, to feel.
How would it be to loosen our focus and to be honest? Dare we to ask ourselves what we really want? What would happen with us if it appears that we don’t like the task or the result? Suppose that we hear a soft voice inside us; first gently and later more and more? Suppose that we hear something crazy.
Suppose that a piece of nature from a different culture calls for reflection. Suppose that we see ourselves in a shiny surface. Suppose that we are asked to show our emotions: would we hesitate, laugh, cry? What would happen if we stand still for one minute to reflect on Artificial Rock #143 by Zhan Wang?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Vertaling
reflectie
Verwarring door een grote glanzende steen in een stadshart. Dit herkennen wij niet. Wij herkennen een steen in een plantsoen als aankleding. Wij herkennen een standbeeld van een historisch figuur als een kunstwerk.
Laten wij deze verwarring toe? Wij zijn sterk gefocust: wij willen een concrete taak uitvoeren vanwege ons werk of relatie zodat wij het gewenste resultaat zien. Maar dit kunstwerk past hier niet in: Artificial Rock #143 levert geen bijdrage aan deze concrete taak en dit resultaat. Wanneer stoppen wij ons haastig bewegen om stil te staan, om na te denken, om te voelen?
Ik kan vertellen over de Chinese betekenis van een steen of een glimmend oppervlakte. Maar dit levert nog steeds geen bijdrage.
Ook dan blijven wij gefocust op de concrete taak en resultaat. We zijn teveel volgzaam. Wij durven niet even stil te staan om na te denken, om te voelen.
Hoe zou het zijn om de focus los te laten en eerlijk te zijn? Durven wij ons af te vragen wat wij nu écht willen? Wat gebeurt er met ons als blijkt dat wij een hekel hebben aan de taak of het resultaat? Stel dat wij een stemmetje in ons horen; eerst zachtjes en later steeds luider? Stel dat wij iets geks horen.
Stel dat een brok natuur uit een andere cultuur vraagt om reflectie. Stel dat wij in een glanzend oppervlakte onszelf zien. Stel dat wij gevraagd worden om onze emotie te tonen: zouden wij twijfelen, lachen, huilen? Wat zou er gebeuren als wij één minuut zouden stilstaan bij Artificial Rock #143 van Zhan Wang?
Door Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
What is the traditional meaning of 'artificial' rocks?
Sometimes called 'pretend mountains' Jia Shan Shi, in Chinese or 'fake mountain rocks' or 'scholar stones' in English these are important traditional forms in Chinese culture.
Traditionally, Chinese artists have situated rockeries, and gnarled stones in front of important buildings and in gardens for decoration and meditation.
Zhan Wang’s stainless steel sculptures imitate and comment on this traditional form from a perspective of the new urban environment in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai.. They symbolically represent mountain landscapes and contain the power to connect man with nature. When one imagines crossing these 'mountains' they promote a spiritual experience and a direct con-nection with nature. The practice of placing these stones dates back to the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago.
The 'pretend mountains' or actual natural forms are traditionally placed in urban gaople living away from nature can contemplate and meditate on the beauty of nature within the city. Often these natural rock forms are placed near ponds or in gardens. The traditional purpose of the rocks was spiritual, placed in the city to promote a calming and meditative space.
The shiny, polished, stainless steel rocks - which are modeled on Chinese garden rocks are sometimes called Taihu - The name of a lake renowned for its unique limestone formations. These 'Scholar Rocks' are highly prized for their use in traditional Chinese gardens.
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
Why did the artist make them so shiny and reflective?
Zhan Wang began making these shiny artificial jiashanshi stones in 1995 during the building boom in Beijing, when numerous glass and steel skyscrapers appeared on the cityscape dwarfing the older traditional dwellings that began to disappear. The artist intends them to be a 'reflection' a mirror held up to see the new modernized China, fast paced, modern, industriechnological, rapidly changing – but also loosing and reshaping past traditions.
'The glittering surface of the rock reflects ever-changing images and further distorts them. Like a magic mirror, it does not confirm what is already there, but has the power of generating new illu¬sions. In this way the rock acquires materiality and subjectivity. Zhan Wang can thus conceive his stainless-steel rock as a postmodern 'monument' whose surface accounts for everything.'
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
What ideas are being explored in this artist’s work?
This artist is exploring ideas about authenticity. Which rock is the original? Which is the copy? According to the artist within China even the natural rockeries, those made of real stones, have truly become 'fakes' when used to decorate a contemporary environment. But his stainless-steel rocks, made as art are 'genuine' works of art.
Since Zhan Wang uses the actual rock as his form and hammers the stainless steel sheet over thtures all of the fine detail of the surface of the stone. He can do this multiple times, mak¬ing endless 'rocks' from the one natural rock. You could see his piece as a replica or a copy – but the aesthetics, the material and how it looks are completely different.
'I use steel to replicate the stone and create a fake 'artificial mountain rock'--a really fake stone. Negating a negation equals an affirmation; it becomes something real.' Zhan Wang.
His work also comments on the changing traditions and landscape of China, where the new is rapidly replacing the old. Zhan Wang believes that tradition need not disappear to be¬come modern. His stainless steel rocks recreate a traditional form in a modern material.
For many centuries Chinese culture has placed a high value on strangely and beautifully shaped rocks. Rocks in a Chinese garden symbolize mountains. In tandem with water, they form a microcosmic or miniature representation of the grand scale of nature.
www.istanbulmodernia Shan Shi' series, on which Zhan Wang has been working since 1995, takes Chinese culture and philosophy as its starting point. In China, the rock holds a special place as a metaphor. Chinese scholars have a special interest in rocks as valuable parts of nature formed through geological processes. They have used stones and rocks, which are natural sculptures in a sense, in gardens in cities to represent a connection between humans and nature, in the material and the spiritual sense. The artist molds sheets of stainless steel around rocks and brings them together so as to obtain a smooth surface, which he polishes and shapes. Glittering and mirror-like, the steel reflects everything around it, altering spatial perception. The artist makes a contemporary intervention in the traditional, enabling viewers to refresh their imagination and change the direction of material and spiritual concepts.
In his sculpture 'Jia Shan Shi', Zhan Wang forms veins, voids, and curves and completes the conceptual transfon of the natural rock through his attention to detail. He shifts the existence of the rock from imitating nature toward creating something artificial, thus enabling us to search for spirituality, which is traditional, in the reflection on the metal, which is real.
www.capitaland.com:
Scholar's Rocks are often regarded as essential elements in Chinese gardens. Chinese literatis, who are inspired by nature, sometimes preferred to bring these rocks or "representations of mountains" into their studios or gardens for inspiration indoors. The polished surface of Zhan Wang's Jia Shan Shi, which reflects the viewers' forms, is perhaps then a commentary that inspiration can come from within.
www.wikipedia.org:
Zhan Wang (born 1962 in Beijing) is a Chinese sculptor. "Zhan Wang's career as an iconoclast began with In a Twinkling (1993), an installation of superrealist figurative sculptures. The figures' style was not new, but the method of installation was: after creating a group of figures in poses of arrested movement, he propped them in unlikely positions outside a building, creating a surrealistic vision of a world gone awry," wrote Britta Erickson in Art Journal.
He is known for being a contemporary Chinese sculptor; however, he is also known in other art forms such as installations, photography and video. His pieces consist of conceptual ideas where he "embraces and subverts several other major traditions in modern art, both Chinese and Euro-American". Many of his works include the use of simplistic object that serve a purpose of telling a complex idea. Many of his ideas that are expressed through his works pertain to Chinese culture.
An arrangement of stainless steel cooking ware that has the appearance of Beijing's Landscape. Zhan Wang keeps the forms of the cookware so the viewer can tell that they are still everyday objects. However, through his arrangement he creates conceptual idea of the Urbanization of China and essentially the imagery of Beijing's landscape. As John Stomberg states:
"His materials are both objects of desire and physical manifestations of the systems (social, political, cultural, and economic) in which they operate: it is precisely the trade in commodities such as cooking tools that is fueling the booming Chinese economy, which is in turn driving the modernization of China's cities. In the work there are many of the same cookware, which represents the urban life of Beijing where many of the buildings are identical to one another."
The implications of Urban Landscape: Beijing make the viewer think about this rapid economical modernization that China is under. The amount of detail that Zhan Wang puts in this work is obvious. He even distinguishes between older parts of the cities by adding frost tips. To distinguish the Forbidden City, he uses low serving trays, dishes and groups of lunch boxes that give it a notable look.
We are confused by a big shiny rock in the citycenter. We don’t recognize this. We recognize a stone in a local park as a decoration. We recognize a statue of a historical figure as an artwork.
Do we accept confusion? We are very focused: we want to carry out a specific job because of our job or relationship so we get the desired result. However this artwork doesn’t fit in this: Artificial Rock #143 makes no contribution to the specific task and result. When will we stop our hastily moving to stand still, to think, to feel?
I can tell about the Chinese meaning of a stone or a shiny surface. However, this is still no contribution.
Still we are too focused on the specific task and result. We are too compliant. We don't dare to take a moment to reflect, to think, to feel.
How would it be to loosen our focus and to be honest? Dare we to ask ourselves what we really want? What would happen with us if it appears that we don’t like the task or the result? Suppose that we hear a soft voice inside us; first gently and later more and more? Suppose that we hear something crazy.
Suppose that a piece of nature from a different culture calls for reflection. Suppose that we see ourselves in a shiny surface. Suppose that we are asked to show our emotions: would we hesitate, laugh, cry? What would happen if we stand still for one minute to reflect on Artificial Rock #143 by Zhan Wang?
By Theo, www.artatsite.com
Vertaling
reflectie
Verwarring door een grote glanzende steen in een stadshart. Dit herkennen wij niet. Wij herkennen een steen in een plantsoen als aankleding. Wij herkennen een standbeeld van een historisch figuur als een kunstwerk.
Laten wij deze verwarring toe? Wij zijn sterk gefocust: wij willen een concrete taak uitvoeren vanwege ons werk of relatie zodat wij het gewenste resultaat zien. Maar dit kunstwerk past hier niet in: Artificial Rock #143 levert geen bijdrage aan deze concrete taak en dit resultaat. Wanneer stoppen wij ons haastig bewegen om stil te staan, om na te denken, om te voelen?
Ik kan vertellen over de Chinese betekenis van een steen of een glimmend oppervlakte. Maar dit levert nog steeds geen bijdrage.
Ook dan blijven wij gefocust op de concrete taak en resultaat. We zijn teveel volgzaam. Wij durven niet even stil te staan om na te denken, om te voelen.
Hoe zou het zijn om de focus los te laten en eerlijk te zijn? Durven wij ons af te vragen wat wij nu écht willen? Wat gebeurt er met ons als blijkt dat wij een hekel hebben aan de taak of het resultaat? Stel dat wij een stemmetje in ons horen; eerst zachtjes en later steeds luider? Stel dat wij iets geks horen.
Stel dat een brok natuur uit een andere cultuur vraagt om reflectie. Stel dat wij in een glanzend oppervlakte onszelf zien. Stel dat wij gevraagd worden om onze emotie te tonen: zouden wij twijfelen, lachen, huilen? Wat zou er gebeuren als wij één minuut zouden stilstaan bij Artificial Rock #143 van Zhan Wang?
Door Theo, www.artatsite.com
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
What is the traditional meaning of 'artificial' rocks?
Sometimes called 'pretend mountains' Jia Shan Shi, in Chinese or 'fake mountain rocks' or 'scholar stones' in English these are important traditional forms in Chinese culture.
Traditionally, Chinese artists have situated rockeries, and gnarled stones in front of important buildings and in gardens for decoration and meditation.
Zhan Wang’s stainless steel sculptures imitate and comment on this traditional form from a perspective of the new urban environment in Chinese cities like Beijing and Shanghai.. They symbolically represent mountain landscapes and contain the power to connect man with nature. When one imagines crossing these 'mountains' they promote a spiritual experience and a direct con-nection with nature. The practice of placing these stones dates back to the Han Dynasty over 2000 years ago.
The 'pretend mountains' or actual natural forms are traditionally placed in urban gaople living away from nature can contemplate and meditate on the beauty of nature within the city. Often these natural rock forms are placed near ponds or in gardens. The traditional purpose of the rocks was spiritual, placed in the city to promote a calming and meditative space.
The shiny, polished, stainless steel rocks - which are modeled on Chinese garden rocks are sometimes called Taihu - The name of a lake renowned for its unique limestone formations. These 'Scholar Rocks' are highly prized for their use in traditional Chinese gardens.
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
Why did the artist make them so shiny and reflective?
Zhan Wang began making these shiny artificial jiashanshi stones in 1995 during the building boom in Beijing, when numerous glass and steel skyscrapers appeared on the cityscape dwarfing the older traditional dwellings that began to disappear. The artist intends them to be a 'reflection' a mirror held up to see the new modernized China, fast paced, modern, industriechnological, rapidly changing – but also loosing and reshaping past traditions.
'The glittering surface of the rock reflects ever-changing images and further distorts them. Like a magic mirror, it does not confirm what is already there, but has the power of generating new illu¬sions. In this way the rock acquires materiality and subjectivity. Zhan Wang can thus conceive his stainless-steel rock as a postmodern 'monument' whose surface accounts for everything.'
www.vancouverbiennale.com:
What ideas are being explored in this artist’s work?
This artist is exploring ideas about authenticity. Which rock is the original? Which is the copy? According to the artist within China even the natural rockeries, those made of real stones, have truly become 'fakes' when used to decorate a contemporary environment. But his stainless-steel rocks, made as art are 'genuine' works of art.
Since Zhan Wang uses the actual rock as his form and hammers the stainless steel sheet over thtures all of the fine detail of the surface of the stone. He can do this multiple times, mak¬ing endless 'rocks' from the one natural rock. You could see his piece as a replica or a copy – but the aesthetics, the material and how it looks are completely different.
'I use steel to replicate the stone and create a fake 'artificial mountain rock'--a really fake stone. Negating a negation equals an affirmation; it becomes something real.' Zhan Wang.
His work also comments on the changing traditions and landscape of China, where the new is rapidly replacing the old. Zhan Wang believes that tradition need not disappear to be¬come modern. His stainless steel rocks recreate a traditional form in a modern material.
For many centuries Chinese culture has placed a high value on strangely and beautifully shaped rocks. Rocks in a Chinese garden symbolize mountains. In tandem with water, they form a microcosmic or miniature representation of the grand scale of nature.
www.istanbulmodernia Shan Shi' series, on which Zhan Wang has been working since 1995, takes Chinese culture and philosophy as its starting point. In China, the rock holds a special place as a metaphor. Chinese scholars have a special interest in rocks as valuable parts of nature formed through geological processes. They have used stones and rocks, which are natural sculptures in a sense, in gardens in cities to represent a connection between humans and nature, in the material and the spiritual sense. The artist molds sheets of stainless steel around rocks and brings them together so as to obtain a smooth surface, which he polishes and shapes. Glittering and mirror-like, the steel reflects everything around it, altering spatial perception. The artist makes a contemporary intervention in the traditional, enabling viewers to refresh their imagination and change the direction of material and spiritual concepts.
In his sculpture 'Jia Shan Shi', Zhan Wang forms veins, voids, and curves and completes the conceptual transfon of the natural rock through his attention to detail. He shifts the existence of the rock from imitating nature toward creating something artificial, thus enabling us to search for spirituality, which is traditional, in the reflection on the metal, which is real.
www.capitaland.com:
Scholar's Rocks are often regarded as essential elements in Chinese gardens. Chinese literatis, who are inspired by nature, sometimes preferred to bring these rocks or "representations of mountains" into their studios or gardens for inspiration indoors. The polished surface of Zhan Wang's Jia Shan Shi, which reflects the viewers' forms, is perhaps then a commentary that inspiration can come from within.
www.wikipedia.org:
Zhan Wang (born 1962 in Beijing) is a Chinese sculptor. "Zhan Wang's career as an iconoclast began with In a Twinkling (1993), an installation of superrealist figurative sculptures. The figures' style was not new, but the method of installation was: after creating a group of figures in poses of arrested movement, he propped them in unlikely positions outside a building, creating a surrealistic vision of a world gone awry," wrote Britta Erickson in Art Journal.
He is known for being a contemporary Chinese sculptor; however, he is also known in other art forms such as installations, photography and video. His pieces consist of conceptual ideas where he "embraces and subverts several other major traditions in modern art, both Chinese and Euro-American". Many of his works include the use of simplistic object that serve a purpose of telling a complex idea. Many of his ideas that are expressed through his works pertain to Chinese culture.
An arrangement of stainless steel cooking ware that has the appearance of Beijing's Landscape. Zhan Wang keeps the forms of the cookware so the viewer can tell that they are still everyday objects. However, through his arrangement he creates conceptual idea of the Urbanization of China and essentially the imagery of Beijing's landscape. As John Stomberg states:
"His materials are both objects of desire and physical manifestations of the systems (social, political, cultural, and economic) in which they operate: it is precisely the trade in commodities such as cooking tools that is fueling the booming Chinese economy, which is in turn driving the modernization of China's cities. In the work there are many of the same cookware, which represents the urban life of Beijing where many of the buildings are identical to one another."
The implications of Urban Landscape: Beijing make the viewer think about this rapid economical modernization that China is under. The amount of detail that Zhan Wang puts in this work is obvious. He even distinguishes between older parts of the cities by adding frost tips. To distinguish the Forbidden City, he uses low serving trays, dishes and groups of lunch boxes that give it a notable look.