Valentine Willie Fine Art is pleased to present EMERGENT, a solo exhibition by San Francisco and Shanghai based Chinese American artist Zheng Chongbin. In this show, Zheng will be exhibiting both his signature ink paintings as well as new large-scale installation works.

Zheng Chongbin is principally known for his large-scale ink paintings. For the past twenty-five years, Zheng has been exploring two issues that run throughout his oeuvre: firstly how to expand the potential of ink as a creative medium; and secondly how to incorporate new expressions of depth and structure into ink painting?

In his discourse, Zheng was to discover and in turn master the use of ink wash with acrylic and fixer. The relationship between the various media has led to the emergence
of a new visual language and the internationalism of ink painting.

With new modes of visual expression, Zheng has made works that convey heart-felt realities. He explores notions of self-value, existentialism as well as the practical and non-practical. Being a keen observer of human nature, Zheng’s works have often touched on the memories of human and animal forms – the unique characteristics of deformity, its existence and its various states.

Zheng’s monochromatic abstract compositions have often used familiar and unfamiliar shapes. He switches between existence and non-existence. In doing so he identifies imaginary spaces. Indeed, these spaces – or absences – become abstract and evocative forms.

The installation Encrustation is exhibited alongside Zheng’s ink paintings. Zheng is intrigued by the idea that significant parts of Southeast Asia’s heritage and culture are entombed deep beneath the sea as relics. Encrustation is a visual extension of historical symbolism from the re-creation of such objects. The work explores the relationship between archaeological artefacts and the art making process.

EMERGENT by Zheng Chongbin marks a significant departure for VWFA in showcasing
a work by a contemporary Chinese artist and for Zheng, it will also mark his first major exhibition in Southeast Asia.