Fu Qiumeng Fine Art is excited to announce that our artist Zhang Xiaoli will be featured in the current group exhibition, Escape Velocities: New Acquisitions to the Reece Collection of Student-Acquired Contemporary Art. Hosted by the Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery at Wake Forest University, this exhibition runs from August 21st to December 8th.
The exhibition highlights eight newly acquired artworks in the Mark H. Reece Collection selected entirely by an eight-student team, alongside additional works by the same artists. In addition to Box Unlimited (2023) which has been added to the Mark H. Reece Collection of Wake Forest University this year, two other notable works of Zhang Xiaoli have also been featured in this exhibition, Mountain Villa of Embracing Beauty (2022-2023) and Learning after Facsimileing II (2014), both are significant pieces in her Lego Landscape Series.
Depicting the classical gardens in Suzhou based on Zhang’s memory of meandering around the gardens, Mountain Villa of Embracing Beauty demonstrates the artist’s engagement of contemporary Western pop dialogue with traditional elements. The artwork juxtaposes traditional scholarly rocks with a playful Lego interpretation, inviting viewers to explore the intersection between reality and imagination. With surreal perspectives of corridors, bridges, and garden scenes, the garden scenes challenge viewers to look beyond the confines of the garden presented and gaze into deeper wonders.
In contrast, Learning after Facsimileing II represents an earlier phase of Zhang Xiaoli’s exploration, where she offers an innovative reinterpretation of traditional iconography while keeping dialogue with techniques from the Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden.
We warmly invite you to experience Zhang Xiaoli’s captivating works at the Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery! Don’t miss this opportunity to witness how Zhang Xiaoli’s Lego landscapes spark a fresh dialogue with other pieces in the Mark H. Reece Collection.
