ZHANG MENG
Zhang Meng (b.1983, Tianjin, China) graduated from the Karlsruhe National Academy of Design in Germany with a PhD degree. She currently lives and works in Stuttgart, Germany and Beijing, China. Her creations reflect her wild imagination of the collective West and East mythologies. Furthermore, figures in her paintings are often emotionally troubled and detached or obscured and hidden within the landscapes, conveying a sense of fragility and strangeness. This is also tangible in the media she employs charcoal, pencil, hot wax and paper, which are naturally brittle, slippery and ephemeral. In 2022–23, Zhang Meng received the Artist Award from the Stiftung Kunstfonds in Germany and completed the residency program at Schloss Plüschow in Germany in 2020.
Her works are featured in several institutional and gallery exhibitions such as: On a Sentimental Moon, Tabula Rasa Gallery (solo, Beijing, 2023); In Harmony With The Way, ShanghArt (Shanghai, 2024); Xinkang Restaurant, Blunt Society (Shanghai, 2024); Forest-Stift, Luis Leu (Germany, 2023); Karls Ruhe, AroundSpace Gallery (solo, Shanghai, 2022); Fragmentation is Abstraction, C-space (Berlin, 2022); Reigionale 23—We are so many here, Kunsthalle Basel (Basel, 2022); Works on Paper, Stevenson Gallery (Cape Town, 2021); Tones and Toes, Tabula Rasa Gallery (solo, London, 2021); Ich Singe, Nordheimer Scheune (solo, Nordheim, 2021); Let Painter Talk, Taikang Space, (Beijing, 2021); NINININI PENG, neewhom, Gebäude im Passagehof 24 (Karlsruhe, 2019); Regionale 19, Kunsthalle Palazzo (Liestal, 2018), among others.
Pillowcase, natural dye, shell, hair, mixed media
Size in situ.
2021–2024
Cloth, down fill, ink, natural dye, threads
150 × 180 cm
2022–2024
Pencil, soft pastel, readymade item on handkerchief
28 × 28 cm (unframed); 33 × 33 × 5 cm (framed)
2024
Silk embroidery on handkerchief
28 × 37 cm (unframed); 33.5 × 43 × 4 cm (framed)
2024
Charcoal, pastel, and wax on transparent paper
90 × 120 cm
2023
Pencil and soft pastel on linen handkerchief
38 × 47 cm (unframed); 44.5 × 53 × 4 cm (framed)
Pencil, coloured pencil, and soft pastel on pillowslip
32 × 51 cm (unframed); 38.5 × 57 × 4 cm (framed)
Charcoal and wax on transparent paper
180 × 240 cm
Charcoal and wax on transparent paper
89 × 239 cm
Charcoal, soft pastel, wax, wire, oil on transparent paper
142 × 89 cm
Charcoal, wax, tempera, pencil on wood board
42 × 60 cm
Charcoal, oil pastel on wood board
42 × 60 cm
Wax
Dimensions Variable
Wax
6 × 8 × 4 cm (sculpture); 18 × 15 × 10 cm (installation)