Ping Zheng’s second solo exhibition at Seven Sisters, Soft Interference, explores the sacred nature and transformational capacity of art. Presenting a new suite of oil stick paintings on paper, Zheng’s work occupies the liminal space between sublime landscape and mystical dreamworld. Her paintings move along this spectrum, where some images feel more rooted in realism, and others feel more elemental.
Bound for the Sky is one of the pieces that feels especially charged with spiritual energy. In this painting, Zheng composes a nighttime forest scene, with two rows of trees illuminated by a full moon. The sky looms forward, somehow appearing closer to the viewer than the forest. As a result of these baffling spatial qualities, the sky becomes the subject of the work and transforms into a kind of spirit form. The deity has an otherworldly presence, imbued with healing light and alchemical energy. By shifting our perspective of what is possible, Zheng reminds us of the magic in our everyday lives, if we choose to see it.
This exhibition marks the inclusion of a new symbol in Zheng’s work. Paper planes appear in four of the images, almost like pyramids or prisms that float above the ground. Triangular, hard-edged, and large in scale, the paper planes have an authority about them. Their presence in the lush environment is undeniable, perhaps even jarring.
The exhibition text illuminates the symbolic meaning of the paper plane, a form that emerged from a poem Zheng wrote about her parents. She describes their memory as “wrapped in crumpled paper, like multiple drafts thrown away in the trash.” Zheng goes on to say, “A paper plane becomes the human soul trying to mail itself toward a future it may never reach, yet still stubbornly pointing towards it.” For Zheng, painting is a way to reclaim her agency, and to move through the world.
In contrast to the heaviness of the paper planes, Tranquil Night Fall feels uncontainable and overflowing. There is an opulence in the undulating forms and kaleidoscopic colors of the fountain. The play between representation and abstraction, flatness and depth, and positive and negative space make for a compelling and satisfying image. I found myself hypnotized by the illusory qualities of this painting, at times losing sense of the separation between the fountain and the mountain landscape behind. They dissolve into each other, a cascade of shape, color, and texture. This painting feels like a mirror that reflects all of the mystery and wonder of our world.
On my drive home from the gallery, a wild sunset erupted. The sky split into purple red and yellow green along a horizontal line of clouds. Rows of live oak trees cut into the sky, as if they were ripping open a seam. Experiencing this in close proximity to the exhibition offered me a framework for further understanding the complexity of Zheng’s paintings. Her images are both representations of landscapes and dreamlike interpretations of them. In Zheng’s world, anything is possible. Much like a sunset, these images cannot be contained. They remind me of the magic in everyday moments and the spiritual forces moving through and around us.
