New York
A first impression of Zheng Lu’s recent exhibition, “Undercurrent,” brought to mind the term “sublime.” Set against pristine white walls, huge silvery waves seemed about to crash through space. The obvious association was to Hokusai’s 19th-century print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, but stylistically, Zheng’s waves have more in common with Northern Song black ink painting, adapted in Japan as Sumie, whose sharply delineated brushwork has been compared to samurai sword strokes by the prominent Asian scholar Sherman E. Lee. One couldn’t help but notice the sharp edges of the waves breaking on the floor and floating in the air, and it soon became evident that the metal sculptures depend, at least in part, on calligraphic gesture. The interaction of solid and void projected myriad shadows, apparent chaos ordered by art.…see the entire review in the print version of January/February’s Sculpture magazine.
