Zhang Feng

Dayu Mete Girl Qian Qian

Xiao Qi Dream Yes?

Self Talk Yeah Sisters

In their formal transformation of the two-dimensions of ink painting into the three-dimensions of sculpture, my works conceptually confront and reconcile the Zen “mind” with the vocabulary of Western abstract painting. Nothingness trumps existence; white supplants black, movement overcomes form-- in such ways do I seek to create contemporary art works that embody the metaphysics of an Eastern consciousness.

There is no question that my sculptures closely retain the feeling of clay modelling, and in this respect are unlike formally abstract Western metal sculptures assembled in industrial fashion by the cutting and welding of so-many machine-like parts. What I love so much about clay and bronze is that as with ink painting, it is possible for my mind and hands to intimately connect with these materials, to engage in a dialogue with them that carries with it all the mutual delight and direct emotions of a private conversation in a secluded place. My bronze sculptures embody my emotional response to the vagaries of contemporary society, hence enabling my works to transcend the physicality of the materials and stimulate the psyche of modern man.

The holes and eroded areas created during the refinishing process are not only essential elements of the overall visual effect of the finished creations, they reflect my further exploration of the dimension of ink painting within my sculpture. These perforations not only establish a kind of communication between the exterior shell of the sculpture and its interior space, but also extend the range of interaction and communication possible between the audience and the creation. At the same time, the feelings of emptiness and futility arising from such fragmentary, broken, eroded and isolated effects lends the creation an even more profound spiritual character, at once expressive of my own critique of the facts of contemporary existence and society, and from an humanistic perspective of the rich and complex spiritual life of contemporary man. extracts Zhang Feng