Opening Reception:
September 4th, 2008 @ 5.30 - 7.30pm
In Gold Mountain, Zhan Wang shows a group of Sierra Nevada rocks and their stainless steel counterparts at Haines Gallery. This is Zhan Wang's version of the California gold rush, in which the Sierra rocks recently mined by the artist represent what the Chinese miners sought in San Francisco, or Old Gold Mountain. By placing a sheet of stainless steel over a rock and exerting pressure, Zhan Wang creates an impression of the texture of the rock in the stainless steel. He then joins these sheets together to recreate the original rock form. The resulting stainless steel rocks, instead of containing the feverishly hoped for gold, are hollow. Shown in tandem with David Masiel's Library of Dust, in which copper is used to explore the artist's concerns about spirit and matter, Zhan Wang's Gold Mountain uses ersatz gold (stainless steel) to explore the artist's concerns about illusion, false hope, and matter.
Zhan Wang was born in Beijing, China, in 1962. He was educated at Beijing Industrial Arts College and the sculpture department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In 1988, a position with the Sculpture Research Institute provided freedom to experiment beyond his conservative training. He began to incorporate installation and performance into his work while simultaneously becoming captivated by the urban renewal in Beijing. In 1995, Zhan Wang began to focus on the relationship between rocks and stainless steel. By 1998, Zhan Wang's work had become conceptual sculpture, a revolutionary departure in representationalist China.
A huge stainless steel rock sculpture by Zhan Wang currently on display in the Great Court at the British Museum complements both a living Chinese landscape and an exhibition of Chinese nature painting. Zhan Wang's work is in the collections of Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco; Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; and the Saatchi Gallery, London.
For further information on the artist or the works included in the exhibition please see visit www.hainesgallery.com.
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