Zheng Xuewu: Meditation

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In his second exhibition with the gallery, Beijing based artist Zheng Xuewu presents his major work Meditation and folk art inspired Chinese Style Blessing series. Zheng has become celebrated for creating an art of unorthodox methods that is in unique dialogue with quotidian Chinese imagery and characters. Meditation has as its foundation, as do his earlier signature Ink Pieces series, multitudes of characters which are printed on the paper one by one using lead type found by the artist. The artist carefully orchestrates the characters positions and works into the negative spaces, between the characters, by hand; Zheng says he tries "to cancel the meaning of the characters and just use them as pattern." In his Chinese Style Blessing series Zheng reaches into folk traditions to add to his repertoire of mark making techniques and image sources. Zheng uses sprayed paint and paper cutouts as stencils, working the images into colorful arrangements that visually pop-out and fade into dark paper grounds. Each New Year, paper cutouts are put up around families' homes in China; different symbols and images represent different wishes. Offerings in Zheng's Chinese Style Blessing series include the characters for "good luck," "prosperity," "longevity," and "happiness" and, in the same spirit, the symbolic imagery of roosters, flowers, dragons, phoenixes, babies and Mao Zedong.

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Recent Exhibitions: Red Gate Gallery, Beijing (2007); Art Projects International, New York, NY (2005); Impact 4 Printmaking Exhibition, Kollwitz Museum, Berlin, Germany (2005); Strong, Espace dArt Contemporain, Antibes, France (2005); Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill, NC (2004); and Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC (2004). Selected Collections: National Art Museum of China, Beijing; Kollwitz Museum, Berlin, Germany; Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, NC; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Gwangju Art Museum, Korea; BHP, Australian Embassy, Beijing; Westinghouse, Beijing; and Beijing International Art Palace.