Zhong Biao

FROM THE BOOK

"The attraction of Zhong Biao’s work lies in his unique perception and observation of image… Temporality has been an integral element of Zhong Biao’s previous works. According to him, 'It actually makes no difference whether it is ancient or modern, western or eastern, our present includes all of our yesterdays…' In fact, Zhong Biao’s experience may not be a universal one, but it may actually more closely resemble the unique existential experience in the process of modernization and urbanization of China.
Urbanization, as the fruit of modernization, produces a particular kind of cultural background and visual experience today: 'It is the misplaced pieces of Paris, New York and London, and sometimes it is a skilful blending of Jerusalem, Borobudur and a Japanese shrine… He fuses together the ancient doorways of Yanjing alongside the seemingly impossible modernity of the Sears Towers (Zhong Ming, 1993).' To me, what Zhong Biao’s work communicates is precisely this feeling of misplacement, contradictory and impossible fusion, and in the direction that lies behind such contradictions lies the 'loss and the confusion' of the soul."

Pi Li, excerpted from Zhong Biao.