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‘Pioneers must pay a price but I can’t go backward’
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SCULPTOR Zhou Yang makes weird white works with plaster — some are jagged forms blasting through a wall, sheets twisting on a clothesline and intricate, convoluted lace.
Some works are all rough, black abstraction, placed in an ornate Italian frame.
The stark sculpture and installation are intriguing, though they lack widespread appeal to a mainstream that favors realism over abstraction.
“That’s the price, or sacrifice one makes to be a pioneer,” says Zhou, who studied abroad.
“But after my study in Europe, I can hardly go back to the previous track or techniques I learned here in China.”
Born in 1983 in Shanghai, Zhou graduated in 2005 from the sculpture department of Shanghai Normal University.
Two years ago, he studied in France and then moved to Belgium, studying at the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
“I was quite disappointed during my stay in Paris,” he says.
“People were always chatting and drinking coffee. I found that I almost had nothing to learn ... Belgium was really art heaven where my eyes were opened both in concepts and techniques.”
Zhou frequently uses white plaster, a very ordinary material.
“I am good at chemistry and I am particularly interested in finding the natural physical traits of different materials,” he says.
Zhou’s creative process is like an experiment. Patience and timing are crucial. In one case, he pours liquid plaster on a thin, clothesline-like rope. As gravity pulls and the plaster hardens, the material looks like cotton fabric handing out to dry, flapping in the breeze. In addition to plaster, he uses black, medical wax.
In some cases, he places his abstract work, wax blocks with a rough surface, within ornate, intricately designed Italian frames that he bought in Europe. The contrast is striking.
The visual effect of the medical wax is beyond his expectation. Like plaster, the wax also hardens when it cools.
“Once the solidified was is framed, it perfectly conjures up the aura I desire. I wager no one, even on close inspection, can tell the material is wax.”
“Sometimes I struggle,” he confesses. “I know what kind of sculptures could sell well, but I just can’t give up because this is my way of understanding the possibilities of modern sculpture.”
Resume
Born in 1983 in Shanghai
Graduated from the sculpture department at Shanghai Normal University
Studied in 2011 at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium.
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