Lot 12: Zhan Wang (B. 1962) Artificial Rock

Zhan Wang (B. 1962)
Artificial Rock
2005

signed,dated 2005 and numbered 1/4
polished steel on teak base

112 x 56 x 33 cm (44 1/8 x 22 1/16 x 13 in)
For further information on this lot please visit the website

Provenance
The Red Mansion Foundation, UKAcquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2005
展望
太湖石不銹鋼柚木底座2005年作
簽名: Zhan Wang 展望 二OO五年版數：1/4
來源
英國紅樓基金會現藏家於2005年直接購自上述來源
The Taihu stone is a type of limestone rock, originally from Taihu Lake, at the base of Dongting Mountain in Suzhou, that has taken on bizarre shapes over many years of water erosion. They have been frequently used as decorative elements in Chinese gardens since ancient times, seen as symbols of timelessness. The height of Chinese stone appreciation was in the Song dynasty. Song painters Mi Fu and Su Shi were both stone enthusiasts, and many high society figures collected and commented on stones with strange and unique shapes. Strange stones, as they are called, served as a medium for the ancients to contemplate the relationship between man and nature. Carved into a weathered beauty by time, they became vessels for aspirations and ideals in life.
Zhan Wang's Taihu stones form his most influential series of artworks, and stand as a response to the sense of opposition between nature and industry. As China's market reforms entered into full swing in the 1990s, the landscape was utterly transformed, with many old buildings flattened in the span of just a few years. Zhan Wang experimented with the use of artificial rocks to respond to the rise of new buildings, to bring nature and tradition into the modernizing urban landscape. Under the rapid pace of social change, the memories and traces of the past were being obliterated. This powerful sense of being rewritten led the Beijing-born artist to ponder the clash between Chinese traditions and the ideas of Western art. He found that sculptures of Taihu stones were entirely Western on a conceptual level, but there had been no new breakthroughs in Chinese concepts of stone sculpture.
In 1994, Zhan Wang infused his sculpture with conceptuality and spirituality, using the long-lasting material of stainless steel to clash against concepts of falseness and emptiness, while skillfully weaving lyrical beauty and timelessness. He placed sheets of stainless steel over stones and hammered them to imprint their contours onto the metal, before welding the sheets together into a single plate and removing the stone inside, leaving behind an empty shell which was then ground and polished to create a smooth surface. His Taihu stone sculptures marked a leap beyond traditional sculpture production processes, and forever changed Chinese contemporary art.
These artworks are empty on the inside, and shimmer with light on the outside. The distorted reflections on the surface present an illusion, a dreamlike, blurred representation of the scenery around it. Is the truth what we see with our eyes, or is it the scene that surrounds us? Zhan Wang defined a new aesthetic, using the inside and outside of objects to correspond to the real and illusory space in front of us, while the shiny surface of the stainless steel stands as a marker of the spirit of modernization. The heritage that comes down to us from the spiritual world of the past is being reinterpreted and recompiled piece by piece to break through with new meaning.
太湖石原為產於蘇州洞庭山太湖邊的太湖石，是一種常年水波侵蝕下而外形奇異聳峭的石灰岩... For further information on this lot please visit the Bonhams website