Skylines

Zheng Chongbin has explored the intersections of the Chinese ink-painting tradition and Western abstraction by using materials from both, mixing black ink with white acrylic to create spontaneous and accidental effects. Zheng mounts multiple sheets of xuan paper on a canvas backing, intentionally creating disjunctions between the sheets even as the flowing abstract forms unite the composition. He describes his process:

The way that I look at art-making is not to impose my vision but to expose the vision of the medium. The material I use is of traditional Chinese painting. The paper is made from sandalwood, mulberry, or bamboo fibers so the paper itself is quite strong. But what is special is that water can go through the paper without ruining it. This is what I like to refer to as “material as agent.” Water flowing over and through a surface is like the interactions between solid and fluid forms. In my work, I am not trying to control the water, but to find its flow, with its own meaning.