Zhan Wang's Floating Rocks
by kathryn wongAsian Art Museum Exhibit featuring Zhan Wang's On Gold Mountain: Sculptures from the Sierra Nevada
No method brings two cultures together better than art. Therefore, credit must be given to the Asian Art Museum for using its powerful presence to remind San Francisco of its history and cultural diversity. Aside from bringing a taste of historical Asia to the Bay Area, the Asian Art Museum offers contemporary art forms as well. Of the many beautiful exhibits the Asian Art Museum has featured these past years, one of its newest is the exhibit On Gold Mountain by Zhan Wang, which has been running since February 15 and will continue until May 25, 2008.
Standing beside the entrance to the exhibit are two giant boulders, highlighting the tension between human existence and nature. One boulder is completely natural. The other, with a surface of stainless steel, looking almost liquid as lights shine on it, is the work of a human being. The description on the side indicates that one of the boulders is hollow, but the other weighs over a ton (one can't help but wonder how they both made it through the museum doors).
Moving on to the main exhibit, one finds a miniature version of the city of San Francisco spread out, shining brightly and beautifully. The buildings, towers, bridges, and roads are all laid out neatly. But what is the most interesting about this scale model is that it is entirely made of kitchen tools. And not just any kitchen tools, but stainless steel ones, many of which may remind onlookers of the steamers and utensils often found in Chinese dim sum restaurants.
Surrounding this city of metal are rocks. Like the boulders at the entrance they are featured in pairs, one metal and the other natural. These representations of the Sierra Nevada foothills allude to the Chinese immigrant experience during the Gold Rush in 1849. Chinese immigrants would come to mine for gold in an effort to provide for their families back home. This exhibit is in remembrance of the Chinese immigrants who came in search of wealth.
The title of the exhibit, On Gold Mountain, is appropriate as it refers to the primary goal of the Chinese immigrants, to find gold. Here Zhan's rocks symbolize the belief in that gold mountain. The shining model of San Francisco serves as a reminder that even if the immigrants did not all discover real gold, they did carve out for themselves a brilliant city. The Chinese immigrant experience On Gold Mountain is inextricably tied to the city of San Franciso (Jiu Jing Shan) which translates into "Gold Mountain" in Chinese.
Born in 1962 in Shandong Province, China, Zhan attended the Central Academy of the Arts in 1983, where he graduated at the top of his class. He is known for his style and unique way of altering nature into the industrial image of humans. Two of his more known forms of art are his stainless steel rocks and topographic creations. He first made his debut in the Bay Area in 2005, where he produced a sculpture for the re-opening of the deYoung Museum in San Francisco. He is reknowned internationally and has exhibited in various other countries and continents.
Zhan celebrates the bringing together of culture, but in a broader sense. First, his art addresses our changing world. In 1995, Zhan took special boulders in China called "scholars' rocks (jiahanshi)." These great boulders are originally meant to be meditated upon; however, Zhan took them and covered them in metal. He then pounded the metal into the form of the boulder, and peeled it off in pieces. After melding the pieces back together in the form of the boulder, he polished it until it became sleek and shiny. The constructed boulders are hollow, and the outside is a material of the new world. The old boulders weighed over a ton, but the new are light in weight and termed "floating rocks" by the artist himself. The shiny sheen of the rocks creates a strange terrain and mystical feeling when placed next to its original, especially when light and shadow play across the shimmering surface of the rocks. This clash of industry versus modernity alludes to our changing world and the power of industrialization and modernization, a popular theme especially in China.
Zhan's exhibit is a beautiful representation of history. To enjoy ancient to modern Asian art forms, the Asian Art Museum offers a wide collection. The historical importance and impact of Asian Americans is proudly represented by the museum. Look forward to future exhibits and events and take the opportunity to reflect on Asian American history and culture as they come together.
For More Information:
(415) 581-3500 or www.asianart.org
Location: 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Hours: The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, with extended hours until 9:00 pm every Thursday
Admission: $12 for adults, $8 for seniors, $7 for youth/students 13-17, and free for children under 12. Thursday evenings after 5 pm admission is just $5 for all visitors except those under 12 and members, who are always free. Target Tuesdays: The museum offers FREE admission to all on the first Tuesday of every month, courtesy of Target Stores. Beginning May 2008, Target Tuesdays will be replaced with Target Sundays, with FREE admission offered on the first Sunday of the month, courtesy of Target Stores.
Access: The Asian Art Museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information regarding access, please call (415) 581-3598; TDD: (415) 861-2035
Source: www.asianart.org