A Splendid Web from Heaven to Earth: MUCHEN AND SHAO YINONG

A Splendid Web from Heaven to Earth is an installation of a giant web flowing delicately from ceiling to the floor. The stainless-steel-made web looks shimmering and inviting from afar. However, as one gets closer, what seems so still and peaceful a moment ago suddenly turns unsettling. The conflicting feeling is a metaphor of the chaos in today’s world. It poses a question to our being, a threat to our sense of existence. The Hrdaya, or literally “Eternal Heart”, is a series of wood works by Shao Yinong. As he takes off the layers of bark of the tree trunk following patterns of its annual rings, the artist uncovers the pagoda-like structure hidden in it. He further fills the cracks of the trunks with ash which is commonly seen in temples in Qinghai area. The installation triggers a religious and spiritual reading into it, inviting the viewers to look into eternity through traces of life.
Also in the exhibition are the photographic work, Webbed by Muchen and a series of etching by Shao Yinong entitled, Objects of Nature. Shao Yinong and Muchen have selected these four series of new works to conclude a stage of their on-going research in the past few years. It also marks the beginning of another journey for the artists, one that leads to a deeper search concerning both the external and internal worlds.