Zhou Fan: An Irresistible Spectacle

ART LABOR Gallery is excited to announce Zhou Fan’s fifth solo exhibition, titled “An Irresistible Spectacle.” This exhibition features Zhou Fan’s latest works from 2024 and will run from September 28 to October 28, 2024.
 
The spectacle is not merely a tangible landscape or object; it is a concept that transcends the dimensions of time and space. It can exist in mythological tales, urban legends, and folklores as documented sightings, or it can represent an ineffable gaze and a distant yet real existence.

Humanity’s pursuit of the spectacle has been woven throughout history. Monumental relics and obsessions with celestial bodies constantly illustrate our desire for experiences that transcend reality. Even in this era inundated with information, it continues to influence us, much like the floating objects that repeatedly appear in the work, gazing at those who are filled with infinite ­yearning and frenzy for the spectacle.
 
Whether it is the “Prayer” viewed from a gaze-like perspective or the “Mirage” describing phenomena in the wilderness, both arise from the continuous transformation and reorganization of meaning behind the work, as well as visual evolution. In this age saturated with endless information, the truths we seek within ourselves are continually diverging and disintegrating. The scattered star charts in the work, letters burned by the hermit, supernatural floating objects, and Baroque patterns all narrate fragments of consciousness that bridge ancient times and reality, recreating those detached illusions.
 
The artist Zhou Fan states, “The elements of mysticism in my work are not coincidental. When I was creating ‘Prayer,’ I clearly remember the genuine state I was in while depicting those intricate patterns and designs, it was a natural sense of devotion. This sense of devotion gradually drew me into a fascination with profound matters and an obsession with the mysticism. I enjoy the self-states I experience at different stages of creation because I believe the fundamental meaning of artistic practice arises from continuous change.”

Zhou Fan was born in 1983 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. He was graduated with BA degree from College of Art, Shanxi University. Zhou Fan’s recent solo exhibitions include An Irresistible Spectacle, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2024); Paradise, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2023); Pollen, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2019); Zhou Fan: Phobia, OCAT, Xi’an (2018); Loopwave-Empty, LITTLES, Chengdu (2018); Zhou Fan: Melt, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2017); Zhou Fan: Mute, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2015). Recent group exhibitions include In The Flow, Mirror Space, Shaoxing (2024); Shanghai Calling, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2024); Dissolution of Form, HDL Museum, Chengdu (2023); Aurora, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2023); First Light, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2022); Electric Picnic, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2021); Worlds on Paper, ART LABOR Gallery, Shanghai (2020); A Spirit was Seen from the Window – The Art Collection Case of Chinese Young Artists Since 1999, Hiart Space, Shanghai (2020); Out of Ink: Interpretations from Chinese Contemporary Art, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey (2019). Zhou Fan currently lives and works in Chengdu.