Miranda Fengyuan Zhang
Continuing a trans-generational practice Miranda Fengyuan Zhang draws influence from memories of watching her grandmother unravel and recycle old sweaters to fabricate new functional clothing. Zhang’s own language began as a child identifying recognizable imagery in the endlessly improvised arrangements of abstract shapes and colors in her grandmother’s up-cycled garments. Working formally and freely in weaving and knitting, Zhang uses leftover industrial threads from remote Chinese factories to juxtapose contemporary experience with tradition that harkens back to the origins of object-making. Vibrating at the borders of abstraction and representation Zhang’s subjects are mysterious but feel familiar: semi-abstract gardens, animal silhouettes, layers of colorful mountains, volcanoes, rivers and icebergs. While weaving sets rigid striated indexes, knitting offers Zhang freedom in manipulating the material to her demands. The riveting, tactile surface presents a structure for material to clash and she is able to manipulate the specific properties of each yarn to create wildly varied textures.
Zhang has had solo shows at Halsey McKay Gallery, Capsule Shanghai, Half Gallery, and Dear Rivington Other exhibitions include: Mendes Wood Gallery and Chambers Fine Art Gallery. She has been the recipient of the La Maison de l'Art Contemporain residency in Asilah, Morocco and will be an upcoming resident at the Arquetopia Foundation in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Courtesy the artist and Halsey McKay Gallery
