Pace Prints is pleased to present an exhibition of monoprints and sculptures by Jian-Jun Zhang, Water, Ink, China, on view at its 32 East 57th Street gallery, from March 13—April 11, 2015. The exhibition will run concurrent with Asia Week New York, March 13—21, 2015.
Jian-Jun Zhang: Water, Ink, China features his new monoprints, which investigate the properties of water both as an abstract element and as matter that flows across time and space. In this First Drop of Water series, Zhang evokes the time that spans between human origins and present day. The singular drop doubly represents the primordial moment when water first brought forth life and a raindrop falling in the present.
The Flowing Water and New Calligraphy monoprints combine water with ink, a traditional Chinese medium, symbolizing the flow of Chinese history from old to new. Chinese ink calligraphy evolved from pictograms in the ancient world to modern forms in contemporary art. The evolution from past and present is embodied in the image of flowing water.
Zhang’s China Chapter silicone rubber sculptures are cast from ancient ceramic vessels dating to the Han, Tang, and Song Dynasties. However, their contemporary material and eccentric shapes are imprints of modern material advancement. By molding the past with the present in a continuum of change, Zhang prompts the timeless question: “Where did we come from and where are we heading?”
Jian-Jun Zhang was born in Shanghai, China. He graduated from the Shanghai Drama Institute in 1978. Recent museum exhibitions include Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Portrait of the Times: 30 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Power Station of Art, Shanghai and Shanshui, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland. His work appears in major collections including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Guangdong Museum of Art, China; Shanghai Art Museum, China; Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China; Zhang is a professor at New York University, Shanghai and lives and works in both Shanghai and New York City.