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WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds

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I first met Han Mengyun through her work "Mirror Pavilion", a set of installations with allegorical meaning: walking in-between, it feels like time and space are disrupted, the viewer's appearance will be reflected in clever mirrors, paintings and the combination of architectural sculptures is reflected into an unfamiliar appearance.

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

Mirror Pavilion III, Han Mengyun, 2023

Stainless steel installation, 330.3 × 1036.3 cm

courtesy of ZHI Art Museum

The artist was inspired by the famous story of the “Two Painters’ Competition” told by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizāmī Ganjavi in his Khamsa. In the story, Alexander the Great, who was on his expedition to the East, summoned a Roman painter to compete with a Chinese painter in a painting competition. As a result, the Roman painter completed a lifelike masterpiece, whilst the Chinese painter only polished a transparent mirror, reflecting everything back. Finally, Alexander announced that the Chinese painter had won. Han Mengyun abstractly reproduces this ancient story with exquisite structure and delicate depiction. The most captivating aspect of the story of the two painters' competition is that it incorporates so many elements of ancient civilizations: a story about a Greek, a Roman and a Chinese, whose literary text was written by an Islamic poet.

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

Mirror Pavilion III, Han Mengyun, 2023

Stainless steel installation, 330.3 × 1036.3 cm

courtesy of ZHI Art Museum

As art critic Cai Zhenyu remarks: “by integrating and weaving different regions and cultures, especially the imagery and pictorial language of Persian and Islamic literary traditions, the artist attempts to construct a cross-cultural and universal symbol system”.

In fact, behind the painting competition is the contrast between Western and Eastern philosophical concepts. Knowing the world depends on observation, research, explanation, accumulation and expression of mind and matter of the world’s care and imitation, or should we treat the "knowledge" given by the five senses and thoughts as obstacles that obscure the mind and remove them all in order to know the truth of the world?

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

The Interpretation of Dreams III, Han Mengyun, 2022

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 210 × 300 × 2.5 cm

Courtesy of the artist

These works reflect the ancient competition between Eastern and Western philosophical systems over thousands of years, continuing to this day and permeating every aspect of life in today's world, from daily diets to seeing a doctor and taking medicine, from regional wars to religious conflicts.

Collecting these works and choosing Han Mengyun as a new generation contemporary artist for a solo exhibition is an important milestone in Zhi Art Museum's long-term exploration of oriental aesthetics: through her works, we see that in the long river of history, the East and the West are a fluid and integrated concept, and so-called competition is an encounter, a starting point for mutual understanding and appreciation of differences.

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

Literature table at the showroom site

courtesy of ZHI Art Museum

Han Mengyun （b. 1989） briefly describes her identity as follows: “Born in Wuhan, raised in Shenzhen is an interdisciplinary and multimedia visual artist based in London, comparatist, film maker, poet, multilingual writer and mother”. As a female artist who has long been crossing between Western and Eastern cultures and like a flowing seed, she has her own unique life, travel, study and creative path that reflects the unusual cultural flows in today's turbulent world.

Han Mengyun's collection of carved wood seals from around the world

Presented in the cloisters on the 2nd and 3rd floors of ZHI Art Museum

courtesy of ZHI Art Museum

She represents a very small group of artists who are both knowledgeable and creative. They have the ability to use interdisciplinary, cross-cultural and new methodologies for creating contemporary art based on in depth research of multiple aesthetics. At the same time, it is also delicate and sharp, unique to women. In both a grand and subtle way, it is expressed in the context of neoliberal globalization, the quest to find one's own cultural identity amidst the ruptures caused by cultural hegemony and cross-contextual conflicts.

However, beneath the surface of the changing civilization and the appearance of everything flowing, the artistic explorations and practices they represent all point to very ancient and eternal essential topics: the truth of the world and one’s true self.

As the title of the exhibition says: What Migrates Shall Remain.

About the Artist

HAN Mengyun

Han Mengyun (b. 1989 in Wuhan, raised in Shenzhen, China) is an interdisciplinary and multimedia artist, comparatist, filmmaker, poet and mother currently based in London.

Her practice addresses the decolonisation of the phenomena of Eurasian transcultural hybridisations that occurred across vast landscapes of time and space from the dominative mediation of the Western conceptual gaze. She was initially trained in the Western tradition of oil painting but diverted from the singular viewpoint of art production towards the complexity of historical ties in the profoundly intercultural context of the continent’s history and present. The broad focus of her research covers interdisciplinary manifestations of cultural dialogue and polyvocal aesthetic conversation — from religion, philosophy, and mythologies to trade, vernacular craftsmanship, and bookmaking. Her studies in Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic, along with Indian and Islamic art and intellectual histories, have led her to forge an alternative paradigm for image-making. This paradigm is based on Indian and Islamicate miniature painting in manuscripts, inspired by the invention of paper and printing techniques in ancient China. She views the book as an open space connecting all cultures while maintaining the uniqueness of cultural perceptions. Therefore, her paintings are conceived as pages and books, paying tribute to the history of ancient globalization—such as the Silk Road—and the intercultural dialogues that have made the world inherently hybrid and interconnected.

Han Mengyun received BA in Studio Art from Bard College and has pursued the study of Sanskrit at various institutions such as Kyoto University before she completed her MFA at the University of Oxford with a research focus on Classical Indology and Indian aesthetic theories. Her recent projects and exhibitions include: “Night Sutra” (Busan Biennale, 2024); “The Unending Rose” (ShanghART Shanghai, 2023); "Painting Unsettled" (UCCA Edge, Shanghai, China, 2023); "Chinese Contemporary Art from the Uli Sigg Collection" (SONGEUN Art and Cultural Foundation, South Korea, 2023); Bordercrossing: Possibilities and Interactions (Yuz Museum, Shanghai. 2023); "The Dwelling Place of the Other in Me" (Power Station of Art, Shanghai, China, 2021); and “The Pavilion of Three Mirrors” (Diriyah Biennale, Saudi Arabia, 2021) etc.

About the Curator

WANG Conghui

Valerie WANG Conghui, Curator, Director of ZHI ART MUSEUM.

Valerie has a Master’s Degree in Aesthetics from the Philosophy Department of Peking University and an MBA from Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. She was a senior reporter at China Central Television, a specialist at Sotheby's China and then head of the 20th Century & Contemporary Art Department at Christie's China. Valerie is an art advisor for several significant private collectors, listed companies, and private Museums in Asia, including ZHI ART MUSEUM. She has been deeply involved in the collection, acquisition, management and promotion of major private institutions, collections and museums in China and leading them onto the international stage.

Admission to the Exhibition

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

?Scan the QR code for Exhibition Ticket

Official Exhibition Ticket Price: ￥88 p.p.

Year-End Special Offer: Buy One, Get One Free!

Limited-Time Deal: Two-person Ticket for Only ￥88

Exhibition period:December 15, 2024 to June 8, 2025 (closes on Mondays, the opening hours of public holidays are subject to the official announcement.)

Organizer: ZHI ART MUSEUM

Co-Organizer: BAO FOUNDATION (Forthcoming)

Exhibition Support: ShanghART

Guidance Unit: Culture, Broadcast-TV, Sports and Tourism Bureau of Xinjin District, Chengdu, Sichuan; Lihuaxi Cultural Tourism Zone Administrative Committee of Xinjin District, Chengdu, Sichuan

Address: ZHI ART MUSEUM (No. 1 junshan Road, Xinjin, Chengdu)

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

Located at the foot of Chengdu's Taoism Laojun Mountain in Southwest China, ZHI ART MUSEUM's serene architecture brings to life the beauty and tranquility of Zen. An iconic work by renowned Japanese master architect, Kengo Kuma, the museum embodies the Eastern philosophy of "Learning from Nature" With the use of water as key feature, and the exploration of natural materials throughout, the architecture organically integrates its surrounding elements harmoniously. The tranquil ?ow and soft movements surrounding the entirety of the museum allow for contemplation and evoke notions of eternity through its unity with nature.

Our museum's core vision is Universality, Insight, and Innovation.

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

The Bao Foundation (Forthcoming) is a creative platform dedicated to re-examining and enhancing the appreciation of Eastern culture, philosophy, and art within a global framework. Established amid significant global historical changes, the foundation is rooted in the sustained exploration and practice of Eastern thought. The foundation collaborates with artists, curators, researchers, and scholars who share its vision to foster a reimagination of the "East" through interdisciplinary projects. Through active participation in the construction of global artistic and cultural discourse, the foundation aims to build bridges between cultures, promote deeper transcultural resonance, and drive global collaboration and understanding.

WANG Conghui: Flowing Seeds 崇真艺客

Founded in 1996, ShanghART Gallery is one of the first contemporary art galleries established in China now maintaining spaces in Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. For the past twenty years, ShanghART has kept devoting to the development of contemporary art in China and also kept close and long-term cooperation with more than 60 artists. Sustaining the highest-quality in presenting contemporary art exhibitions and projects, ShanghART regularly participates in the major international art fairs and collaborates with important art institutions in China and from all over the world.