Zheng Lu was born in Chifeng, Inner Mogolian in 1978. As a child, he practiced Chinese calligraphy with his grandfather and transcribed poems and verses for his father, a literature enthusiast. Such background gave birth to Zheng’s keen interest in the forms and meanings of Chinese characters as well as the historical allusions carried by these characters. Therefore, when conducting his graduate study at China Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, he started thinking about transforming the two-dimensional, symbolic forms of Chinese characters into three-dimensional sculptures and spatial installations. To create the foundation for his work, Zheng integrated hieroglyphs, metal technique of openwork carving, and visual effect of overlapping light and shadow. In terms of selecting the characters, he intentionally chose words with radicals symbolizing “water.”
Zheng Lu’s solo exhibition at MOCA, Taipei uses the title of Shiosai, a novel by the Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima. The 1954 novel recounts the love story between a young fisherman and the only daughter of the fishing boat owner, implying that youths have to pass tests and obstacles, endure difficulties and challenges, and taste the bitterness in life before they really attain the real love and its sweetness. Zheng’s solo exhibition responses to Mishima’s novel as it represents the context of his creative work and its development.
Fifteen sets of artworks created in the recent two years are included in this exhibition, including both large outdoor and indoor sculptural installations, conceptual paintings, and multi-media video installations. Through diversified creation, Zheng interprets the material transformation of water as well as its infinite changes in different space. His creative work symbolizes the diversity and potentiality of individual life and its growth. In the meantime, it contemplates on the shaping forces imposed on individuals by social environment and the essence of humanistic development that is manifested as the pursuit of nature, the self, and individuality.
For artists of a new generation, interdisciplinary artistic creation has undoubtedly become a common thing rather than something special. However, when talking about achieving the smooth transition between thinking and expression to form a unique individual system, Zheng would be one of the fine exemplary artists, who possesses both ambition and capability. For this exhibition, he had visited and reviewed the site several times, and created works specific for the space. By doing so, the artist not only initiates a dialogue between his works and the exhibition space, and he also hopes to offer an exceptional exhibition experience for his audience.