Ceramic Figure Sculptures by Zhang Wanxin
June 7 - 29, 2012
The title of this exhibition, Panda Warriors, calls up immediate associations that the exhibits may have a certain element of “Chineseness” in them and that they may have something to do with the terra cotta soldiers of the Qin Dynasty. This raison d’etre is to the point but there is much more to it. San Francisco-based sculptor, Zhang Wanxin, indeed has a lot more to pass on to the viewers of his sculptures.
The word “Panda” may
have been used to attract attention but the word
“warriors” definitely is used to highlight an
attitude to life as well as the determination to
claim one’s right on a dignified piece of turf
under one’s feet.
Trained in Luxun Institute of
Fine Arts, Shenyang, China, Wanxin went on to
continue his degree of masters of fine arts in the
Academy of Art University of San Francisco in 1992.
After graduation, he chose to stay in the United
States and since then has been teaching in the
university. From Jilin to Liaoning and then to San
Francisco, Wanxin’s meandering route to the foreign
land and his personal struggles to become a sculptor
and an educator and to realize them all in his
adopted home, in fact, are a road map of a
“warrior”.
Encapsulated in his
figures is one unyielding will as well as the
extraordinary ease and superficial calm. These
warriors seem to be looking intently at the
upheavals of everyday life, though often with
their real selves concealed behind a pair of
sunglasses.
The details in their facial expressions, the cut scars on the bodies, the drip marks of the glazes together with the expressive execution of the torsos and armours…all these have demonstrated Wanxin’s fluency in the sculptor’s language and his skilful application of the medium. They, as a result, will assure the lasting enhancement of these warriors.
The Panda Warriors exhibition is to open on June 7th, 2012 at Art Beatus Hong Kong. For further information or interview with the artist, you can contact us at dyiu@artbeatus.com.hk or call Dominic Chan at 2522-1138 or Josephine Hau at 2526-0818.
Art Beatus Gallery is located on the ground floor of #50 Peel Street, Central (SOHO Area).
Gallery Hours: Mon-Sat 11:30am to 7:30pm, Closed on Sundays & Public Holidays.
