Zhang Ruyi

Rusty monuments and remnants from such processes of renovation take on tragically beautiful forms in Matte Substance-12 (2020) , where the artist grafts discarded steel rods, electrical wires and gravel on to concrete cacti.

Rusty monuments and remnants from such processes of renovation take on tragically beautiful forms in Ewha in the Storm (2020), where the artist grafts discarded steel rods, electrical wires and gravel on to concrete cacti.

Apollo’s songs grow harsher, for we now make noise in cyberpunk megacities. Working from the rapidly developing metropolis of Shanghai, Zhang Ruyi continues her exploration of renovation, construction waste and the poetics of remnants. Domestic Wasteland (2020) is a sound installation comprising of four colossal metal plates placed in front of loudspeakers, emitting the audio recording of different construction sites.

Dysmorphic cacti made out of concrete spawn on a tiled pedestal, petrified as a plant specimen. Individual Plant carries forward the artist’s interest in how natural objects are disciplined by their larger environment. The seductive flowers of cacti and succulents are often the only green growing in the scorched desert, their nectre drawing pollinators and feeders from miles away, an oasis in a wasteland sustaining an ecology of its own. Their roots often dig deep into the arid soil, absorbing moisture from the ancient riverbeds underground.

Zhang delineates her clinical gaze on architecture and the city by abstracting and re-positing the geometric construction of this natural object. In Individual Plant – 19, Zhang grafts electric wire into the now concrete of the plant, demonstration the harsh, deeply intrusive infiltration of industry upon nature.