340×480x600cm
In the works that have been selected for this exhibition, shadows are manifest in myriad form from concept and construct, to narrative and fiction, material and substance. The exploration begins in an obtuse way with Yang zhenzhong’s massive Fallen Five Star (The Perfect Pentagram),an exterior sculptural installation, part submerged in water, where the front and back portions tell a very different story of the titular star. From the front of the work the full form of the five-point star is invoked by means of mirror plates on the lower half of the facade. This creates an illusion of wholeness which is undone once the viewer moves around to the back side, where the state of disintegration into which this rusting monolith has fallen, is fully revealed. As with most truths, the facts are present before us, the clues there to be read. All that is required is that in looking we are able to see clearly.
_ Karen Smith:”World of Shadow Teeming with Brilliance”, “The Shadow never Lies” p281, 2016
Yang Zhenzhong (p 247-249), too, creates visual games, which encourage viewers to explore a fuller or more meaningful image and to look at things around them differently. He approaches the issue of the shadow, or precisely the specular image, through building a ‘monument’ right at front of the museum entrance, the only outdoor work of this exhibition. This new sculptural piece, simply features an iron sheet in the shape of a star. In fact, it is only a half star, which reflected in its stainless steel base forms a complete image of a star. The specular is as strong, reliable as iron, and as spiritual as the star, lifting the heavy material and pointing into the infinity of a reflected sky.
_ Jiang Jiehong: “The Shadow never Lies” p34, 2016
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