artvolc

Meng Zhou brings together new and recent works to present his personal narratives and exploration of alternative concepts about the individual’s choices and potential within both social and ecological environments through the intriguing notion of cocoon. 

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The title 0.064g emerged out of the artists own fascination with silkworms, being the average weight of the cocoons silkworms he observed in the conceptualisation of the works. The artist was initially struck by the delicate yet tensile character of silk and cocoons. To spin a cocoon a silkworm weaves a single string of fragile filament into a strong and protective shelter. To the artist, it represents an endless network of links and bindings, filtering the view from outside and limiting the space within. The cocoon, once constructed, is claustrophobic and oppressive but also a site of metamorphosis and becoming.

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While seemingly simple, Zhou’s ink wash paintings, bronze sculptures, mixed-media work, and video installations are intricately weaved and layered within this exhibition, highlighting notions recognised by the artist as relevant and, at the same time satirical and contradictory. Out of them came a richer conversation on individuality.

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Meng Zhou (b. 1992), a BA Painting graduate from Camberwell College of Arts and current MA Contemporary Art Practice student at the Royal College of Art, is an artist based in London working with painting, moving image, and sculpture. He has exhibited at Art Space Bund 22, Shanghai in 2015, and recently been shortlisted for the 20th National Open Art Competition for moving image.

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