Mengzhi Zheng (1983, FR, born in CN) received jury commendations already as a student. After graduating with an MA from the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieur d’Arts at the Villa Arson, Nice, he has featured in solo and curated shows, including the biennales of Lyon, 2015, and Orléans Architecture, 2018. In 2018 Zheng is working on Inarchitectures, a permanent landscape installation for the renovation of Les Halles car park in Lyon (Lyon Parc Auto, LPA).
Zheng’s serial small forms of waste materials, often wall mounted—Maquettes abandonnées—are dollhouse-like inventions, which give the feeling of spontaneous and weightless 3D sketches. Scaled up for a gallery or a natural landscape, they can capture both the grace of artistic gesture and the emergency of shelter. All Zheng’s works naturally underscore the contemporary urgency of his oeuvre confounding painting, sculpture, and architecture.
The Merchant House, Amsterdam, 2018
—
