Galerie du Monde is delighted to present a solo exhibition of new work by Stella Zhang, premiering at Insights at Art Basel Hong Kong 2016, a sector dedicated to curatorial projects featuring exceptional material from galleries with spaces in Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. A continuation of her seminal body of work, 0-Viewpoint, the new body of work, completely in black, offers a stark contrast to the original series, which was created in white. Reflecting on cultural attitudes towards the self, sexuality and women, and comprising part sculptural paintings and part installation, the exhibition will take place at booth 3D26 from 24 – 26 March 2016.
Zhang’s new work, created throughout 2015, demonstrates darker sexual connotations. In the five sculptural paintings on display, black fabric incorporating ink and charcoal is grappled with over frames, creating pleats, knots and folds that convey the artist’s tension and anxiety. Decisive slashes in the fabric and in the canvases reference the artist’s wounds and scars, while referencing female genitalia.
While the sculptural paintings are displayed on the walls of the booth, the centre will feature a new installation comprising a number of 3D objects that are also constructed with darkly painted fabrics in shapes that relate to the body. Some of the forms are irregular, while others are attached, seemingly growing out of one another. The objects will be placed together to create a large installation that juxtaposes elegance with a jarring brutality.
0-Viewpoint is Zhang’s perception of the mundane world and her inner self. For the artist, ‘0’ is a form and substance endlessly referred to by Daoism and Zen, from which ‘1’ comes from, followed by ‘2’, ‘3’, and subsequently all beings.
In 2015, Galerie du Monde presented the first instalment of 0-Viewpoint at its gallery space in Central, Hong Kong, consisting of an expansive installation of white, womb-like fabric tunnels and canopies alongside plush textile phalluses. The body of work was created by Zhang to reflect the freedom she felt both as an artist and as a woman having moved to California in 2003 as a single parent. Her previous experiences in Beijing and Tokyo were marked by huge periods of artistic development, but also by experiences of sexism and gendered-stereotypes in patriarchal societies, as well as negativity towards female artistry. Having created work that responded to her initial, positive experiences in the United States, this new body of work is an exploration of the complexities and drawbacks of a society with supposedly liberal attitudes towards women, art and sexuality.
