Upcoming Exhibition ｜ Zone Out

2022 · Summer Exhibition

Zone Out

Artist: Zhang Miao

Exhibition Dates: July 5th to October 23rd, 2022

Address: Xixian Fengdong Cultural Center, Feng River East Road, Xi’an

OCAT Xi’an is proud to present Zhang Miao’s solo exhibition. This solo exhibition, the largest showing of Zhang Miao’s work in an art institution to date, brings together a rich selection of the artworks that have resulted from his imaginative play with sensory forms and expression. Zhang Miao's artistic practice oscillates and collides between the concepts of painting, sculpture and architecture, neither adhering to established theories, nor trying to get rid of his own inertia. 

 ©Zhang Miao | Oneway Bridge (blue) (red) (green) (orange) 

39x39x45cm, 34x34x37cm, 28x28x37cm, 23x23x26cm, 

 stainless steel, brass, metal primer, acrylic, 2020

Zhang Miao makes art using a variety of different media and techniques. There are paintings; etchings; wood carvings; sculptural forms. Some of the 3D forms include moving parts which contribute a spatial aspect to these pieces – what we might call their architectural quality. Zhang Miao has a strong interest in architecture. He also likes shape and texture. He especially loves colour; colour that is primary and striking in its tone, and often of a texture that is not textured at all, but evenly flat because it is intended to be directly representational of things we readily associate with it. The artworks have a quality that is also childlike, which really means playful, fun.Naturally, in the hands of a contemporary artist, all such simple symbols and signs are more complex than first meets the eye. Before speaking of the nature of this intent, it should be said that the best used of all the “tools” Zhang Miao works with is that of his imagination. In unleashing his imagination in this way, his goal is not to speak of other worlds, but this one we inhabit, and not to reflect upon human desire, but to explore the way we perceive and respond to visual language.

©Zhang Miao | HALO

88x125x2.6cm, aluminum plate structure, metal primer, acrylic, 2020

"Zone Out" presents a variety of works in the form of a single work. Combining independent works and arranging them closely together, become a display method specially designed by the artist for this exhibition. Zhang Miao was interested to give viewers a holistic overview of his idea about art; the thinking that unifies his diverse forms, as seen when different artworks from different moments in the artist’s career are juxtaposed. 

©Zhang Miao | Ceremony

30x70x17cm, aluminum construction, metal primer, 2021

The exhibition runs from 

 July 5th to October 23rd, 2022.

Stay tuned !

About the Artist

Zhang Miao was born in 1985 in Beijing, he graduated from the Painting Department of Central Academy of Fine Arts with BFA in 2008, and MFA in 2017. Now works and lives in Beijing. 

About OCAT Xi'an

Launched in November 2013, OCAT Xi'an is the third site for OCAT Museums, which began with OCAT Shenzhen in 2005. OCAT Xi'an is devoted to contemporary art: its mission is to draw upon local and international resources to promote Chinese contemporary art to an international standard as well as to support a range of cultural exchange programs in Xi'an. Our focus is contemporary, exploring artistic innovations that extend backwards and forwards in time and, geographically, west to embrace cultures along ancient routes that, like China today, are home to over evolving forms of artistic expression. It is said that in ancient Xi'an east met west. OCAT Xi'an continues that convergence through the contemporary practices of artists at the forefront of the era.

Address: Xixian Fengdong Cultural Center，Feng River East Road, Xi'an

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