Clouds are a recurring motif in Liang Shaoji’s practice. Floating beyond the physical realm of human existence, clouds embody our wildest daydreams, and their lazy progress across the sky reminds us of the gradual passage of time. In Heavy Clouds, Liang’s silkworms have spun a sheath around pieces of fossilized wood dating back to the Tang Dynasty. The artist relates these pieces to yungen, a concept integral to the understanding of landscape and space within Chinese poetry and painting. Yungen often refers to materials of great density, like stone or wood. Heavy Clouds accomplishes two feats: making wood appear as light as a cloud and a cloud appear as heavy as wood.

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