Liang Zhang
United States
Since time immemorial art has been a powerful impetus to the lasting development of humanity, as it has encompassed state-of-the-art ideas that have been the driving force of our civilization. I have always craved to fire people’s imagination through depicting my ideas using clay and ceramics, and I would like to devote my life to this realm.
I am interested in combing organism and the precise grid system together and the effects of these systems on individuals, I found that the format is not limited to three-dimensional objects, but also the flatter appearance as we can see on screen and paper. And that brings up a question to me of how to transform and simplify a stereo idea into a highly concentrated surface— make a communicational efficient media to address a goal and atmosphere. I aspire to make a change and exert influence on people’s outlook with the help of my works, as artists put into effect their innovative ideas that have a substantial impact on society. Most of my works have a relation to nature or dealing with the relation between nature and humans, and I would like to say that’s the contrast between body and mind, organic and artificial, and controlled and uncontrolled. I put most of my vigor into making sculptures and installations, which addresses issues related to the strict regulations and the softness of nature in contemporary society.
The Bridge
1. What’s your background?
Family is the earliest living environment after birth, it is the earliest contact of children and the world, it is the most important place they grow up. The family factors that influence the child's achievement are quite complex, and the values of social and economic status, parents’ expectations, and education mode are closely related to that.
The reason why I choose clay as a major medium is pretty funny. When I was little, my mom didn’t get me white clothes because that would be hard to wash if there was any stain on them, I like to jump into the water after rain, or play with the sand when our neighbor doing constructions, and my mom was like “don’t do that kind of things that make you and your clothes so dirty”. And finally, I’m away from home now, out of her sight, and it gets really dirty on my arms, my face, my pants, on the table, on the floor sometimes, especially I throw something on the wheel, but for sure I’ll clean it up afterward. Also, clay is easy to clean after getting messy, rather than ink or paint, and it’s a relatively safe natural material. I can make it clean and tidy again after the mess it up, and this is also the subject I’m working on, like learning to accept, whether the good result or the bad accident. Ceramics are delicate and fragile in some ways, and it has a chance to break. I don’t want to be that cautious anymore cause that somehow limits the possibilities. I’m breaking the bisques and sewing the fragments together, not in their original shape, and I find that it doesn’t have to be as identical as you can when repairing it, it can be a totally different form and subject, and from that, I can see more possibilities.
2. What does your work aim to say?
The artwork has its own language, both expressed by itself (the appearance and the object itself), and empowered by the artist (the story that the artist wants to say). I believe a successful artwork can make the viewers have the same feelings as the artist, or at least evoke a sense of consciousness. Most of my practice is to bring up an idea of how people perceive the grid/rule and how actually it needs to be perceived. An artwork is not only an object that stays there to be viewed, it is also a trigger of the viewer’s emotion and thoughts. Related to my earlier experience influenced by rules from school and laws in the society, I’m interested in the margin of right and wrong, or doable and undoable, and how to maximize the fusion of “should” and “desire”. By playing with these edges, I hope my audience gets to notice how the importance of the way we are making decisions.
3. How does your work comment on current social or political issues?
There are a lot of political artworks or artworks that talk about social issues which are well known by the impact they made, such as Banksy’s, Joseph Beuys’, or Ai Weiwei’s work, and I think my works are softer but also social related. As human beings are social species, and we rely on each other to thrive, there must be some issues that talk about the relation between people and the outcomes that are made by these connections, either in a good or a not that good way. Since I am focusing on the grid system and the freedom of organisms, it is important to me that how do I adjust these two factors, the grid system mimics the regulations and the organism poses to human beings. The magic that happens between these two factors is just like the juxtapose of people and rules, is it lawful right means it is ethical accepted? Where is the margin between right and wrong? Can a human be as precise as a machine if practice enough? How are the rules and laws made? Why do people aware of consensus? All of these questions in my mind make me eager to develop more into this field.
4. Who are your biggest influences?
My works and practice have been influenced by so many factors, with a lot of thanks to my family and friends, my mentors from art school, my colleagues, the place where I live, the surroundings, the issues that happened every day, there are very tiny things that can trigger me to make art and further develop the practice. Brazilian contemporary artist Anna Maria Maiolino has inspired me very much on how different stages of clay make context extensive and idiographic. I used to think about how ceramic artwork makes it art instead of decoration or tableware, and it came out that glaze is an important part of its properties. A glazed bowl shape work can easily be considered tableware, but what if it is unglazed and not safe to consume with? Our brains are trained in a certain way of how we recognize something is safe and aesthetic, and think beyond that line usually gives us a new approach of appreciation. Maiolino’s wet clay work inspired me of the pre-fired clay medium can be as powerful as what we think “finished” delicate porcelain and ceramics. In recent years, I experimented a lot to use clay as the main medium to make installations in outside space, and the raw clay blends in nature so well that manifests my aim to combine organic and manmade elements.
5. How has your art evolved over the years?
I usually have a blueprint when I start a project, there is a general shape in my mind, and then keep adding on and taking off, a finished work usually looks somehow different than the first sketch and model. Starting from my first life-size figurative sculpture “Lying Under the Sun” (2015) to my current site-specific installation “When the Chain Breaks” (2021) in Salton Sea, CA, I’ve experimented and practiced geometrical sculptures, flat sculptures, glaze painting surface, clay mono printing, combing fabric and thread with ceramics, every single step leads my work to the form of today’s achievement.
6. What does art mean to you?
Art to me is a moment of fantasy and an escape to self-consciousness. When I look around, I percept the surroundings not only by their realistic appearance but also my feelings when I look at them, after I realize that I want to make something according to that feeling which triggers me about past, current, and future, I start to try to portrait it in a minimal way, take away all the unnecessary components and leave only the essential part, it is a meditation of discarding and rejecting. It is also a circulation, in a good way, the more I make art, the more I need to make art, and turns out the more work I made. I can see the history of my growth when looking at my works, and they always remind me who I am and how I became who I am now.
7. What’s the most valuable piece of art to you?
By saying the most valuable piece, I think all of us have different definitions of “valuable”. To me, it means something unique, important and brings me joy. It is not necessary artwork, I would like to say the most valuable pieces of art are my sketches and models. Those are the first notions that come up in my mind to awareness and reaction, and they are the roots of the finished works. I like to put the priceless origins in my sight to remind me of what I am doing when I’m making art.
8. What’s next for you in the future?
I will continue to make art related to what is important to me and my surroundings, and exploring the balance between regulations and freedom will still be my main scope. The genre is more on the sculptural/installation side instead of making two-dimensional works, and as a human being, I feel more connected to three-dimensional objects (like me) that share the same stereoscopic space as me. If all the conditions are permitted, my ultimate goal is to invite the audience into a space that is created specifically for a sense.
Continental Plate 1
