Artist Zhang Quan’s Exhibition “Rockery” Opens at Wuhan Art Museum
The highly anticipated personal exhibition of artist Zhang Quan, titled “Rockery,” has officially opened at the Wuhan Art Museum’s Qintai Pavilion. Zhang Quan, known for his sincere approach and consistent narrative, presents a breakthrough in personal expression with this exhibition.
Combining oriental aesthetics with modern deconstruction, “Rockery” offers a fresh perspective on the inherent aesthetic pattern. The exhibition features a range of sculptures and paintings, with the artist utilizing bonsai, rockwork, and classic KARORO imagery to express his views on the current social landscape. Zhang Quan confronts the blurred lines between reality and untruth in today’s unpredictable world, inviting visitors to contemplate their own place within it.
An Exclusive Interview with Zhang Quan
Hypebeast: As your biggest exhibition since graduating from college, how long did it take to prepare for “FAKE FAKE MOUNTAIN”? What were the main challenges you faced?
Zhang Quan: We received the brief from the Wuhan Art Museum in March this year, and since then, we have spent almost half a year preparing for this exhibition. The main challenges were operating such a large venue, spanning nearly 6,000 square meters and presenting our works from previous years. This exhibition serves as a reflection of ourselves, incorporating both challenges and innovations.
Hypebeast: Coming from your hometown of Nanjing, KARORO has accompanied you to many cities. How was your experience in Wuhan different this time? What impressions did this city leave on you?
Zhang Quan: Nanjing and Wuhan share many similarities as both being capital cities with rich urban resources. They both enjoy a pleasant climate and are situated along rivers. The Wuhan Art Museum provided us with an excellent opportunity to express our creations. Through the opening activities, I felt the enthusiasm and love of the young people in Wuhan for art exhibitions.
Hypebeast: KARORO has transformed into different artistic forms since its inception over a decade ago. What possibilities do you see for this image in the future? What are you most looking forward to?
Zhang Quan: I envision KARORO having a multifaceted and three-dimensional future. It should continue presenting interesting, cute, and powerful content to everyone. I hope it grows and remains beloved by all.
Hypebeast: We noticed fans traveling from out of town to see this exhibition. Is there a particular story behind this that you’d like to share? How do you perceive this level of dedication?
Zhang Quan: One story that impressed me was a girl riding a motorcycle from Guizhou to Wuhan just to see my exhibition. She rode a total of 1,200 kilometers, which I found incredibly cool. Another friend brought multiple pairs of Melting Sadness sneakers for me to sign at the venue. It’s meaningful to see people enjoying the stories I create and wanting to delve deeper into their narratives.
Hypebeast: We noticed several brand new works in this exhibition. Could you tell us more about them?
Zhang Quan: This exhibition aims to showcase a Chinese-style amusement park. I selected rock houses and bonsai to convey this theme. It’s a reorganization of the amusement park concept I’ve been developing over the past decade, aiming to present an amusement park that truly belongs to China.
Hypebeast: Are there any new projects planned for this year? Can you share any information about them?
Zhang Quan: We will continue to adhere to our original aspirations and create more high-quality content for the “Amusement Park” series. If the opportunity arises, we may even build our own amusement park in a specific city. Stay tuned for more updates.
About the Exhibition
The solo exhibition “FAKE FAKE MOUNTAIN” by Zhang Quan will run from September 26 to December 3, 2023. It is held at the Wuhan Art Museum’s A&B Exhibition Hall (Qintai Hall), located at No. 77 Zhiyin Avenue, Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province.
Artist Zhang Quan’s personal exhibition “Rockery” officially opened this week at the Wuhan Art Museum (Qintai Pavilion). In naming each exhibition, Zhang Quan has continued his tradition and faced the works with a sincere attitude. “Rockery” is another extension of the artist’s consistent narrative, and is also a breakthrough in personal expression.
This creation combines oriental aesthetics with modern deconstruction, and tries to interpret the inherent aesthetic pattern from a newer perspective. A number of sculptures and paintings are exhibited and the artist uses bonsai, rockwork, classic KARORO and other images to express his opinion on the environment of the current social landscape through different intervention methods. Perhaps in the unpredictable real life, the boundary between reality and untruth has been blurred for a while. How to find your own footing is a problem and a challenge that everyone will face.
As Zhang Quan’s biggest solo exhibition to date, we also took the opportunity to invite him to personally reveal the interesting things behind this exhibition. This exhibition will last until the end of December 3. You are welcome for everyone to visit the site.
Hypebeast: As the biggest exhibition since you graduated from college, how long did it take you to prepare for “FAKE FAKE MOUNTAIN”? What is the biggest difficulty behind this?
Zhang Quan:In March this year, we received a brief from the Wuhan Art Museum. We have been preparing for this exhibition for almost half a year. The difficulties encountered are that we have never really operated such a large venue before, and the total area of this exhibition is almost 6,000 square meters; the second is that we need to reorganize and present the works we have done in the past. years, which is also a reflection of ourselves, challenges and innovations.
Starting from your hometown, Nanjing, KARORO has accompanied you through many cities Is there any different experience in Wuhan this time than before? What is the biggest impression this city has left on you?
In my opinion, the two cities of Nanjing and Wuhan have many similarities, for example, both cities are capital cities and have rich urban resources; they are both situated on the banks of the river and have a comfortable climate, etc. The Wuhan Art Museum gave us a very good opportunity to express our creations. Through these two days of opening activities on the site, I felt the enthusiasm and love of young people in Wuhan for art exhibitions.
It has been more than ten years since the birth of KARORO. From the initial manuscript until today it has resulted in different artistic forms. What possibilities do you think this image has in the future? Or what are you most looking forward to?
KARORO’s future should be multifaceted and three-dimensional, and it should continue to output the content it wants to present to everyone. This content must be interesting, cute and powerful. I hope he gets better and can be loved by everyone all the time.
We saw that there were some fans at the exhibition who came from out of town to see this exhibition Is there any story behind this that made an impression on you that you would like to share with everyone? What is your perception of this?
What really impressed me was a girl who rode a motorbike from Guizhou to Wuhan to see my exhibition. She told me she had ridden 1,200 kilometers in total, which I thought was really cool. Another friend brought many pairs of Melting Sadness sneakers to the venue for me to sign for. In my opinion, it is very meaningful that people like the stories I create and want to know more about the stories behind them.
We saw many brand new works in this exhibition Can you introduce them to you?
The main thing I want to do in this exhibition is to show you part of the Chinese style amusement park. I chose more rock houses and bonsai to present this content. At the same time, this is also a reorganization the amusement park in the last ten years I want to go Prove that you are a Chinese artist and want everyone to see an amusement park that belongs to China.
Are there any new projects planned this year Can you give us some information?
We still need to stick to our original aspirations and continue to create more high quality content for “Amusement Park”. If it is possible in the future, if you want to build your own amusement park in a certain city, you can look forward to it with us.
Solo exhibition “FAKE FAKE MOUNTAIN” Zhang Quan
Time: September 26 – December 3, 2023
Address: Wuhan Art Museum A&B Exhibition Hall (Qintai Hall), No. 77 Zhiyin Avenue, Hanyang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province
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