The first solo exhibition in the UK of conceptual artist Chen Zhen’s sculpture.
The show included a new version of Jue Chang (Fifty Strokes to Each) (1998) – a massive set of suspended drums created from old wooden Chinese furniture, which was a memorable highlight of the Venice Biennale in 1999. Other works presented were Daily Incantations (1996), a monumental sculpture that incorporated traditional Chinese wooden chamber pots from which emanated the sounds both of their daily ritual cleaning, as well as of voices reading from Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book, and Zen Garden (2000), a model for an unrealised work created by Chen Zhen during the artist’s extended residency in Tuscany. These and other works were seen in London for the first time at the Serpentine Gallery exhibition.
