Zheng Lu | Root Metaphor

ZHENG LU

ROOT METAPHOR

ZHENG LU

ROOT METAPHOR

GALLERY MISSION Sundaram Tagore Gallery is devoted to examining the exchange of ideas between Western and non-Western cultures. With spaces in Hong Kong, Singapore and New York City (in Chelsea and on Madison Avenue), the gallery was the first to focus exclusively on the rise of globalization in contemporary art. The gallery represents painters, sculptors and photographers from around the world. They each work in different mediums and use diverse techniques, but share a passion for cross-cultural dialogue. The gallery is renowned for its support of cultural activities—including poetry readings, book launches, music performances and film screenings—that further its mission of East-West exchange.

ROOT METAPHOR For his second solo show at Sundaram Tagore New York, Beijing-based artist Zheng Lu presents new sculptures and mixed-media installations revolving around themes of water, a subject matter that holds multiple meanings for the artist, from an element essential to existence, to a medium symbolic of change, self-reflection and the passage of time.

The title of the show, Root Metaphor, refers to a concept developed by American academic Sarah Allan, based on the idea that early Chinese philosophers used physical principals of the natural world to better understand mysteries of the cosmos and the nature of man. Water, a shapeless medium that can be potent or supple, dynamic or latent, can take on abundant meaning and serve as a tangible model embedded with conceptualized ideas. Zheng Lu employs imagery of water and the principals that govern it to reveal a world that exists, which we cannot see.

“With little bearing on the phenomenal world, these models belong to an invisible world that is contrary to our mundane and recognizable universe,” Zheng explains.

“Various natural phenomena play the role of models in the system of abstract philosophical principles.”

Zheng illustrates this concept with his new series Fluid Mechanics; abstract metal sculptures that are an aesthetic departure from his acclaimed Water in Dripping series, where he poetically expresses water in stainless steel form, evoking dynamic splashes suspended mid-air. Here, Zheng approaches his investigation on a micro-level inspired by principals of applied mathematics, physics and computational software designed to produce quantitative predictions of fluid-flow. The practical application of this branch of science is used to study ocean currents and weather patterns, as well as develop technology for aircrafts, rocket engines and wind turbines.

Left: Unknown Circle 1 & 2, 2019, Sundaram Tagore Gallery New York

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Fluid mechanics often uses computer generated grids to explore principals of water flow, but Zheng’s latticelike structures forged from titanium and stainless steel take the idea further by also considering the fundamental human desire to make sense of what we don’t know or can’t see, while at the same time, imparting meaning drawn from collective cultural experiences.

Also on view is Unknown Circles, a spatial installation first shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MOCA) in Zheng’s solo exhibition Shiosai in 2015.

Comprising a series of luminous black orbs in various sizes, the work is inspired by the principle of wave interference, a natural phenomenon that occurs when two waves collide while traveling along the same medium. Where the spheres connect to each other and “Geometry is probably a rational outcome of the life the wall, expanding ripples appear, the energy of the form,” he says. “These patterns, seemingly simple interaction validating one another’s presence. but actually unstable, complicated, and orderly, are showered with human-generated metaphors.” Zheng’s “I imagine these spheres being liquid and as such, metal structures are rhythmic and delicate, while also collisions between the sphere and the space around conveying the power and momentum that comes from it causes ripples across the surface,” Zheng explains. fluid in motion. But some viewers will find symbolic “As the ripples stack atop each other, they magnify meaning in the incidental geometric shapes that are the vibrations in some areas, while diminishing the formed, as with NACA0012 Airfoil, in which a cross vibrations in others. The positions of the waves appears, a result of when the tail of an airplane cuts establish each other’s existence, reveal their existence, through air. or reveal its meaning.”

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Additionally, the exhibition features new lightboxes ideas rooted in Chinese philosophy with explorations that evolved from the artist’s Insubstantiality series, of physical forms to reveal deeper metaphysical truths, which made its American debut during his solo show realized in dynamic contemporary sculpture.

Undercurrent (Sundaram Tagore New York, 2017).

These bright, colorful works are imbued with Daoist philosophy and play with the notion that reality is not always what you see. A convex lens placed over glass magnifies and deconstructs the imagery beneath, resulting in vibrant abstract compositions similar to what one might see when looking through the lens of a microscope.

These new series are an organic evolution of Zheng’s acclaimed Water in Dripping series, of which there will be several recent works on view. “Water is a very important motif in my art,” he says. “As a key element in Chinese philosophy, it was observed, visualized and ruminated upon rather than getting examined in terms of logic.” With these works, Zheng Lu integrates 9

NACA0012 Airfoil A 2019, stainless steel, titanium, 118.1 x 78.7 x 1.2 inches/300 x 200 x 3 cm

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NACA0012 Airfoil B 2019, stainless steel, titanium, 102.4 x 66.9 x 1.2 inches/260 x 170 x 3 cm

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AGARD CT-5 Airfoil 2019, stainless steel, titanium, 78.7 x 74.8 x 1.2 inches/200 x 190 x 3 cm

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Unknown Circle 1 2016, stainless steel and lacquer, variable dimensions

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Unknown Circle 2 2019, stainless steel and lacquer, 43.3 x 51.2 x 19.7 inches/110 x 130 x 50 cm

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Milk Bacteria 2019, lightbox, collection-grade digital micro-jet, 47.2 inches/120 cm each

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Flow Field 2019, copper plate pigment, 19.7 x 15 inches/150 x 38.2 cm

Flow Field 2019, copper plate pigment, 19.7 x 15 inches/150 x 38.2 cm

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TGrid 2019, copper plate pigment, 23.4 x 31.5 inches/59.5 x 80 cm

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Studies 2019, stainless steel etching and titanium plating, variable dimensions 30

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OTHER WORKS

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Water in Dripping - Spatter 2017, stainless steel, 27.56 x 11.81 x 14.96 inches/70 x 30 x 38 cm

Water in Dripping No. 7 - Condensing Flow 2017, stainless steel, 23.62 x 17.32 x 27.17 inches/60 x 44 x 69 cm

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Jin Bo 2018, stainless steel, 71.6 x 33.9 x 46.1 inches/182 x 86 x 117 cm

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Wen 2019, stainless steel, 55.1 x 37.4 x 33 inches/140 x 95 x 84 cm

Rain 2018, stainless steel, 25.59 x 16.54 x 17.52 inches/65 x 42 x 44.5 cm

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Ni 2019, stainless steel, 59.1 x 66.9 x 37.8 inches/150 x 170 x 96 cm

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ZHENG LU Zheng Lu graduated from Lu Xun Fine Art Academy, Shenyang, with a B.F.A. in sculpture in 2003. In 2007, he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, while also attending an advanced study program at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Zheng has participated in numerous exhibitions, including at the Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem; the Ekaterina Cultural Foundation, Moscow; Musée Océanographique, Monaco; Musée Maillol, Paris; the National Museum of China, Beijing; and the Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai. He had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei in 2015, one of the leading institutions in the region, the Long Museum, Shanghai, in 2016, and the Song Museum in Beijing in 2017.

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President and curator: Sundaram Tagore Director, New York: Susan McCaffrey Director, Singapore: Melanie Taylor Registrar: Julia Occhiogrosso Designer: Russell Whitehead Editor: Kieran Doherty

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Cover: NACA0012 Airfoil A (detail), 2019, stainless steel, titanium, 118.1 x 78.7 x 1.2 inches/300 x 200 x 3 cm