Zhan Wang Ornamental Rock No. 71 2006 Polished stainless steel. 67 x 62 x 42 in. (170.2 x 157.5 x 106.7 cm). This work is from an edition of four.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Catalogue Essay The critic Britta Erickson describes Zhan Wang’s moment of inspirationthat led to his celebrated series of stainless steel sculptures modelled onChinese scholar’s rocks: “Fiddling with some discarded foil wrappers oneevening, Zhan Wang noticed that the chance arrangement of wadded foilresembled nothing more than a group of jiashanshi [scholar’s rocks].Thisrevelation catalyzed an ongoing chain of musings. Jiashanshi of a shinymodern material could stand as a metaphor for many aspects of contemporarylife, with a modern external guise but essentially rooted in traditionallife…,” (B. Erickson, “Material Illusion: Adrift with the Conceptual SculptorZhanWang,” Art Journal, Volume 60 No. 2, Summer 2001, pp. 75-76).Zhan’s sculpture is created by wrapping sheets of stainless steel around agenuine scholar’s rock, pounding the steel sheets so that it conforms to therock like a second skin, and then welding the steel sheets together so thatthey appear as a single seamless, organic entity. In form, the OrnamentalRock No. 71’s fantastic contours embody the inspirational, contemplativequality of the original Chinese garden rocks that were highly prized by theliterati according to their formal qualities of thinness, openness,perforations, and wrinkles: the present lot, for example, is notable for itswell-proportioned form and intricate perforations, as well as itsresemblance to an animal. In function, the rocks are alluring shape-shifters.Zhan renders these icons of tranquillity and inspiration in stainless steel—the key material of the industrial age—and transforms them intohumorously Postmodern touchstones. Ornamental Rock No. 71’s highlypolished surfaces perfectly mirror our external world; yet to our eyes thatseductive reflection remains perpetually distorted, leaving us like Alicefalling through the “bright silvery mist” of the looking-glass. Read More
Zhan Wang Ornamental Rock No. 71 2006 Polished stainless steel. 67 x 62 x 42 in. (170.2 x 157.5 x 106.7 cm). This work is from an edition of four.
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist Catalogue Essay The critic Britta Erickson describes Zhan Wang’s moment of inspirationthat led to his celebrated series of stainless steel sculptures modelled onChinese scholar’s rocks: “Fiddling with some discarded foil wrappers oneevening, Zhan Wang noticed that the chance arrangement of wadded foilresembled nothing more than a group of jiashanshi [scholar’s rocks].Thisrevelation catalyzed an ongoing chain of musings. Jiashanshi of a shinymodern material could stand as a metaphor for many aspects of contemporarylife, with a modern external guise but essentially rooted in traditionallife…,” (B. Erickson, “Material Illusion: Adrift with the Conceptual SculptorZhanWang,” Art Journal, Volume 60 No. 2, Summer 2001, pp. 75-76).Zhan’s sculpture is created by wrapping sheets of stainless steel around agenuine scholar’s rock, pounding the steel sheets so that it conforms to therock like a second skin, and then welding the steel sheets together so thatthey appear as a single seamless, organic entity. In form, the OrnamentalRock No. 71’s fantastic contours embody the inspirational, contemplativequality of the original Chinese garden rocks that were highly prized by theliterati according to their formal qualities of thinness, openness,perforations, and wrinkles: the present lot, for example, is notable for itswell-proportioned form and intricate perforations, as well as itsresemblance to an animal. In function, the rocks are alluring shape-shifters.Zhan renders these icons of tranquillity and inspiration in stainless steel—the key material of the industrial age—and transforms them intohumorously Postmodern touchstones. Ornamental Rock No. 71’s highlypolished surfaces perfectly mirror our external world; yet to our eyes thatseductive reflection remains perpetually distorted, leaving us like Alicefalling through the “bright silvery mist” of the looking-glass. Read More
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
