Exhibition SiteZi Peng examines the material of jadeite through dual perspectives of childhood and adulthood: for children, it transforms into innocent imagery like candies and ice pops; for adults, it carries symbolism of wealth, desire, and status. Through the deliberately contradictory naming of "Jadeite Gummy," the artist guides viewers to evoke tender childhood memories and their innate authenticity while touching its hard, cold physicality.
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Zi Peng's artistic practice constructs a cultural dialogue that transcends time and space. By skillfully employing the natural "qiaose" texture of jadeite, he integrates segments of iconic Song and Yuan dynasty paintings such as "Early Spring," "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains," and "A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains," forming a unique "painting-within-a-painting" visual structure.
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This approach creates a visual experience where distant views reveal organically integrated jade color veins, while closer inspection unveils complete classical Chinese landscape scenes, serving as a metaphor for the simultaneous existence of cultural memory's wholeness and fragmented nature.
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His body of work embodies profound cultural contemplation. The piece created for the Year of the Snake employs a Taiji motif enveloping the "snake egg" imagery, conveying a profound theme of maternal protection; while the new work prepared for the Year of the Horse juxtaposes a steadily standing steed with a young horse in a carousel form, interpreting the tension between Eastern lyrical abstraction and Western figurative representation.
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Furthermore, the artist references Western art historical classics—such as infusing the form of Venus with the landscape lyricism of Ming dynasty courtesan Liu Rushi, or juxtaposing Eastern and Western interpretations of divinity within a Klein Blue palette. These attempts all aim to explore the collision and resonance between different cultural DNA.
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In terms of artistic language, Zi Peng draws on the visual matrix of Pop art, combining hand-painting and spray painting to infuse his works with warmth and playfulness. He further breaks through the static paradigms of traditional jade carving, endowing figures such as deer and rabbits with a dynamic sense of floating and leaping. This nuanced observation of life in Suzhou gardens is transformed into a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional imagery like cranes and deer.
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"Jade Gummies" series thus becomes a visual vessel for multiple allegories. It serves both as a formal paradox between jadeite and candy, and as an aesthetic bridge connecting childhood and adulthood, the East and the West, tradition and modernity.
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Zi Peng invites viewers to look beyond surface appearances and deeply perceive the complex narratives about cultural heritage, human authenticity, and visual perception - ultimately guiding them to discover those timeless connections to truth, goodness, and beauty that transcend time and space through the dialectic of contradiction and harmony.
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Curator Li GuimingRenowned curator, photographic artist, and partner of the Common Art Center.
With eighteen years of experience in the contemporary art industry, she has curated exhibitions and events for hundreds of artists such as Zhong Biao, Chen Wenling, Wang Zhong, Ren Zhe, and Gao Yu, establishing herself as a key catalyst for numerous artistic careers. In recent years, while continuing her professional art curation, she has dedicated efforts to curating artistic and cultural content for brands and commercial spaces, enhancing commercial value through art. Her collaborative institutions include the National Museum of China, Today Art Museum, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanhai Art Museum, Faurschou Foundation, Asia Art Center, Parkview Green, THE BOX, and nearly a hundred other artistic and commercial organizations. As a photographer, she has been invited to create portraits and document art events for hundreds of leading artists, critics, and art institution directors, including Cai Guo-Qiang, Zhang Xiaogang, Liu Xiaodong, Fang Lijun, Xiang Jing, Fan Di'an, and Uli Sigg, making her one of the most significant documentary image creators of contemporary Chinese art.
Artist Zi Peng
Zi Peng was born in Zibo, Shandong, in 1982. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2005 and his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2008, both from the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts. He is a contemporary Chinese artist and urban art creator, currently living and working in Suzhou.Zi Peng has chosen jade—a symbolic, sculpted natural gemstone—as his "material muse." His work invites us to embrace and experience the balance, harmony, and surreal artistic effects embodied by jade. With a distinctive talent for capturing the wondrous, surreal luminescence of jade through oil paint, and a rich imagination that interweaves traditional Chinese art with the imagery of precious stones, he challenges us to adopt new perspectives and discover a sense of marvel—the art within art.
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