Zhan Wang Biography

Zhan Wang's most celebrated work to date is his series of 'artificial rocks' – stainless steel replicas of the much-revered 'scholar's rocks' traditionally found in Chinese gardens. The mirrored surfaces of these often monumental objects absorb the viewer and its surrounding environment, enticing them to become part of the work, an abstraction and distortion of reality, thus creating a visual interplay between positions of tradition and modernity. He further explores his fascination with material and reflection in a series of works titled "Urban Landscape" in which he recreates models of major cities, such as London, Beijing and Chicago – using kitchenware and cutlery. The process of miniaturizing an urban sprawl through the use of domestic and ordinary objects calls forth the basic necessities of life, despite the rapid modernization of contemporary society.

Zhan Wang has exhibited extensively in major museums and galleries across the world including the National Museum of China, Beijing, China; Williams College Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA; Kunst Museum, Bern, Switzerland; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan; International Center of Photography, New York, USA; and the Asia Society Museum, New York, USA.  He has also executed a number of art projects at significant landmarks such as Mount Everest and the Great Wall of China. His work was also included in the landmark exhibitions Cities on the Move: Asian Contemporary Art, Austria, France, USA, Finland, UK, Denmark (touring exhibition 1997-99) and Synthi-Scapes: Chinese Pavilion, 50th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy in 2003.