Zhao Zhao’s (b.1982, Xinjiang, China; based in Beijing, China) practice is often associated with anti-authoritarian or non-conformist tendencies, renowned for confronting existing ideological structures, and exercising the power of individual free will in his work. Zhao Zhao works across various mediums, including but not limited to video, photography, performance, and installations incorporating found objects; this refusal of material limitations demonstrates his reflexive intensification of a dialogue with and within each medium.
Zhao Zhao is known for making ambitious, multidimensional work, integrated across different yet concurrent series, which examines the power of the individual under and against the dynamics of state-sponsored control. As a former assistant to Ai Weiwei, Zhao Zhao is no stranger to the complexities and setbacks caused by political anxieties.
Zhao Zhao received his BFA from Xinjiang Institute of Arts in China. He has exhibited at numerous institutions, including MOMA PS1, Queens, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida; Groninger Museum, Groningen, Netherlands; Premi Internacional d'art Contemporani Diputació de Castelló, Castelló, Spain; Padiglione D'Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy; Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, China and the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China. A survey of his work was curated by art critic Cui Cancan, and showcased key works spanning the multidisciplinary reach of his practice.
Zhao Zhao
Broken Officer Sculpture, 2011
Limestone
Dimensions variable
Zhao Zhao
Uncertainty, 2014
Stupa (Ming, Qing dynasty), stone, wood, steel, rope, re-bar
84.25 x 28.74 x 28.74 in (214 x 73 × 73 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Sky No. 14, 2013
Oil on linen
78.75 x 78.75 in (200 x 200 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Preserved Duck Eggs #3, 2016
Oil on linen
10.6 x 13.8 in (27 x 35 cm) / 16.14 x 19.7 in (41 x 50 cm) framed
Zhao Zhao
On Guard, 2008
C-print
39.37 × 177.16 in (100 × 450 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Repetition, 2013/14
White marble, limestone, sandstone
39.37 x 39.37 x 39.37 in (100 x 100 x 100 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Suit, 2016
Dolce & Gabbana suit, handmade suit, aluminum frame, written work
31 1/2 × 19 7/10 in (80 × 50 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Constellations, 2014
Oil on canvas
78.75 x 118.11 in (200 × 300 cm)
Zhao Zhao
Safe #5, 2015
White marble
21.6 × 21.6 × 23.6 in (54.9 × 54.9 × 60 cm)
Zhao Zhao's "Repetition" takes its form as a cube composed of smaller stone blocks, originally sourced from found demolished Buddha sculptures destroyed in the aftermath of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Zhao Zhao amassed a collection of dilapidated relics, later cutting them down to their largest quadrilateral shape. The ensuing pieces were then assembled to form a sculptural whole, carefully obscuring the original sources. The end result - a perfect cube - embodies the persistence of beliefs, however abstract, despite their altering forms and how authority and its power is projected through the aesthecization of discourse.
A prominent member of the post-1980s generation of Chinese artists and a former assistant of Ai Wewei, the Beijing artist talks about his visually stunning, anti-authoritarian and provocative work. Lilly Wei talked to the artist in his Beijing studio in 2015.
By Emily Steer
Artists have been fascinated by the night sky and its dazzling cosmos for centuries. From Van Gogh’s trippy The Starry Night (1889) to Théodore Géricault’s eerie, green-tinged After the Deluge (1819) and Georgia O’Keeffe’s geometric Starlight Night (1917), many have attempted to capture the inherent mysteries of the universe as viewed from the ground. Some have taken it a step further, with Jeff Koons launching his mini sculptures to the moon using an un-crewed Odysseus lander this February.
So why are these artists continually drawn towards space? With a solar eclipse just behind us, we explore some of the most exciting contemporary artworks that look to infinity and beyond.
Zhao Zhao: A Long Day features a selection of 82 of the artist's most important works from his artistic career spanning from 2006 to the present, including paintings, installations, sculptures and studies on ancient culture. The aim is to present imprints of civilisation left by the long-lasting ancient Chinese culture on today’s world by illustrating the relationship between ‘past and present’ and between ‘East and West’ in a more modern and accessible way of contemporary art.
Curated by Cui Cancan, the exhibition focuses on Zhao Zhao's most important works within past few years, including painting, sculpture, installation, and other objects. This is Zhao Zhao’s first large scale solo exhibition in Shanghai.
This exhibition is focused on Zhao Zhao’s recent works and presents a few dozen of the most important pieces. The exhibition connects his Green, White, and Pink series from different periods, and integrates his Western Trilogy with streetwear projects developed in different cities to tell a new story under the exhibition title “Zhao Zhao”.
Zhao Zhao’s take on the Louis Vuitton Capucines is a puzzle of over three hundred laser-cut parts elegantly sewn together into a sophisticated composition. Treading the balance between tradition and innovation, numerous exclusive techniques, such as silkscreen printing, high-frequency embossing and 3D embroidery, have been utilized to transform over hundreds of pieces of leather comprised of five different types. Zhao Zhao's collaboration with Louis Vuitton draws on the fashion house’s rich history of collaborating with artists, including high profile projects by Takeshi Murakami, Richard Prince, Stephen Sprouse, and Yayoi Kusama.
Roberts & Tilton is pleased to announce representation of Chinese artist Zhao Zhao, emblematic for his practice addressing overlapping social, political, and aesthetic actions in a world undergoing unprecedented upheaval. Born from the artist’s circumstances of change, Zhao Zhao’s work complicates notions of aestheticizing disruption, based on whether control is a reliable way to mediate social interaction and how meaningful dialogue is introduced around spheres of conflict.
