Zhao Yao: Spirit Above All, 12 Feb 2013 — 16 Mar 2013
Exhibitions

Zhao Yao: Spirit Above All

Spirit Above All marks the first time that conceptual Chinese artist Zhao Yao has contextualised his paintings with photographic backdrops in a gallery. Featuring seven new works created by the artist in 2012, “Spirit Above All” is Zhao Yao’s first solo exhibition in the UK.

The exhibition at Pace London features abstract geometric compositions painted in black, white, and grey on pieces of denim. Once completed, the artist brought the artworks to Tibet to be blessed by a “Living Buddha”, a reincarnation of a previous Buddha according to the Buddhist religious doctrine. Zhao Yao documented this process through photographs of the Tibetan landscape, which not only provide backdrops in the gallery but will also be presented in albums for visitors to look at while seated on the straw mats that form part of the installation.

The familiar visual language explored in the exhibition invites the viewer to reflect on their perceptions of the work. The interaction with the artwork and the self-consciousness of the viewer is at the crux of Zhao Yao‘s art. The artist is fascinated by the relationship between art and its audience, and focuses on the progression of his own works. This creates an on-going cycle of self-assessment, and reconstruction of the old to produce the new, a process the artist describes as “self-consumption”.

“The attention should never be on the paintings themselves, which I deliberately repeat in different series to deconstruct their visual power, but the concept behind the forms. I am interested in the way we look at exhibitions and how our pre-existing knowledge, whether cultural, religious or political, affects our perception of art. I like to provide context for my works, but not to disclose my own opinion so the discussion can remain open. In the same way that the puzzles I use aim at training one’s brain to think logically, I want my exhibitions to challenge people’s conventional way of looking at art.”

Zhao Yao, 2012. 

Spirit Above All  is an extension of the series “A Painting of Thought”, presented at Beijing Commune in 2011 and 2012.

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