In the artist Zhao Zhao's solo exhibition of the same name, which is currently being held at the Shanghai Long Museum (West Bund), enter the last sunken exhibition hall, the 16-meter-high space is empty, but it is difficult not to notice its special features: like a return to the basic concept of the round place in ancient civilization, the unique curved zenith of the Long Museum reflects golden dots of starlight; further tracing the light source, you will find that this comes from the metal fragments embedded in the tarmac ground under the feet - the air still retains a less pungent smell of asphalt.
Zhao Zhao, Dying, 2018-2021
If you look closely, you will find that these crushed, fused, and tightly sewn pieces embedded in the ground are the shape of cats. The signs pasted not far away suggest the title of the work: "Dying". It's hard to believe that the brilliant galaxy that comes together before your eyes stems from an accident and the loss of a life.
Return to the exhibition entrance to the work "Starry Sky", a canvas of blue paint blooming in a 12-meter canvas. This scene, which is also reminiscent of the vast universe, comes from a car accident experience of Zhao Zhao. The unexpected cracks and radial spots in the shattered windshield are like the starry sky at night, where momentary violence is transformed into the eternal tranquility of the night sky.
"Zhao Zhao" exhibition site
"Everywhere we are in the midst of force majeure, either natural or man-made. It is in this kind of pressure and fear that we cherish, see and delusion. Zhao Zhao said.
On January 16, 2022, Zhao Zhao's solo exhibition of the same name, "Zhao Zhao", opened at the Long Museum (West Bund), curated by Cui Cancan, focusing on the artist's most important works in recent years, including paintings, sculptures, installations and artifacts, which is also the artist's first large-scale solo exhibition in Shanghai.
Zhao Zhao, Self-Portrait, 2016
The works in the exhibition are first derived from the Jurassic era, which has been more than 100 million years ago; more recently, they are the stone of neolithic tools, the original production tools; then the cultural jade bi, the statues of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the porcelain of the Song Dynasty, the shou peach of the late Qing Dynasty, and the modern screws and headphones. Spatially, the sky of New York, the script of the Western Regions, the ladders of Tibetan areas, the stars of Beijing, and the solid asphalt roads and soft cottons all over the world meet here.
The complicated vocabulary, which belongs to the civilizations of different time and space, the history of time and space, and the reality that is being staged, are reconnected by Zhao Zhao with the trend of pushing out the old and the new, breaking the insurmountable boundaries, applying them to creation, creating a unique and strange artistic style and working method.
The exhibition focuses on the artist's creations in recent years, including his most important works since 2016, through the series of colors "green", "white" and "pink" of different periods, and the re-integration of the "Western Trilogy" related to Western Culture and the trend cultural projects carried out with different cities, telling a new story and forming the theme of the exhibition "Zhao Zhao".
In the "White" series Spread, white cotton is piled up, ignited, and reduced to the ashes of the absolutely rational geometric figure of Malevich's supremacy. Cotton has an important place in Zhao Zhao's life, and the labor of volunteer cotton picking from junior high school to high school has become an indelible memory of Zhao Zhao's childhood. Light cotton is ubiquitous in people's lives, and it has not only shaped the contemporary world, but also reshaped the rise of capitalism. The process of hand-burning has wiped out the history of cotton, the deep meaning and past symbolized by the old world have been ignited, white has become black, and material has been transformed into spiritual weight.
In "Shop Window", the display cases of the three simulated museum showcases are like autobiographical films, which trace the inspiration and source of Zhao Zhao's creative ideas, artifacts and works from different historical periods, and become a way for people to watch the artist's thinking trajectory. The self-portrait symbolizes the beginning of this journey, the jade of Longshan, the arm painted with totem, the line drawn in a second, the impact of a car accident, the tea cup favored by Huizong, and the dream of transforming into a feather. The "ladder" not far away leads the historical perspective to the view of life and death in ancient Tibetan areas: how can the dreams of the world be released in faith?
"Zhao Zhao has a great feature in his work in recent years, that is, his creation is based on a research system based on personal experience. Zhao Zhao starts from this context and makes it have a richer relationship with different realities and histories, which is his working method. Curator Cui Cancan said.
In "Shop Window", the 5,000-year-old Jade Of the Longshan Culture is juxtaposed with American-made screws, and the suppressed tea cakes are displayed under the ring-shaped jade bibi, both of which take on a similar form. The artifacts in the display case are both a reduced history of civilization and, through their similar forms shaped by different cultures, telling Zhao Zhao's multiple positions on traditional and modern civilization.
In common sense, museums are always seen as graves of history, thus contrasting the vividness of life in the world. But in Zhao Zhao's showcase, the fossils of wolffin fish from the Jurassic period and the unsealed instant noodles were equally solemnly selected, studied and combined. These "forms of existence" from different eras and symbolizing different civilizations, such as the sketches made by Zhao Zhao in a second behind the window, or the fragments of the eternal starry sky left by the bullet hitting the glass, are just a moment in history.
What is the connection between personal experience and the exhaustion of ancient artifacts?
"They all boil down to one thing: how people are molded." Cui Cancan said. "People always like to say 'express themselves', but in fact individuals are not naturally produced, but are shaped. Everyone encounters two forces when forming an individual, namely, the shaping of the individual from the times and history. Zhao Zhao is starting from these two clues, placing personal events in a broader history, to explore its commonalities, and at the same time connecting isolated events to form a new self. ”
Zhao Zhao, Control, 2019
Thus, Control from the "Green" series may be seen as the core of the exhibition: in traditional Chinese culture, the gourd is both a Taoist magic weapon and treasure, as well as a spiritual sustenance for literati hermits. But the growth of the "gourd" is a process of control, and its naturally formed beauty of life can only be given meaning in culture if it is corrected into the desired form.
Controlled gourds, broken Buddha statues cut into squares, arms tattooed with ancient totems of the Hongshan culture, jade bi, fossils, relics... Objects from different historical fragments are stripped of time in Zhao Zhao's "Shop Window" and become deranged montages.
"The window of the museum always explicitly takes you back to a certain era, but the function of art is to perceive the passage of time," Cui Cancan said, "in the exhibition we cancel time in two ways." One is to use the arrangement of objects that are not space-time restrictions in "Window". The other is like the One shown in The Dying. The starry sky reflected in "The Dying" is not temporal, it does not belong to any era. If we fantasize about a person 3,000 years ago looking at the starry sky overhead, he must feel the same as us. ”
"Before 2010, my work would have been more focused on specific social events, but now I'm going to see something much older, and the connection with history now." The ultimate effect of things stripping away time is what I'm focused on. The future happens today, and today shapes the future. Zhao Zhao said.
At the end of the hall, "Dying" is the end of the story. The psychedelic and solemn copper sheet reflects the same vague luster as the Song Dynasty jianzhan in the window. The accidental moment of misfortune is once again transformed into an eternal form, pushing the words it symbolizes into a broader history and reality.
(Article from TANC)