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Zhuyu: The Alchemy of Process in Installation Art
Zhuyu's practice begins with a direct engagement with materials. She welds metal, cuts wood, and installs LED lights, repeatedly handling these elements to grasp their intrinsic properties. The moment the torch ignites, metal fuses with fire, molten seams spreading along the steel’s edge, leaving behind a distinct connective trace. Wood is sliced open, revealing its raw rings and textures, while fine dust lingers in the air. LEDs are embedded within the interwoven structures of metal and wood, their shifting light reshaping the space. These processes are not merely acts of transformation but negotiations between the artist and her materials.
In practice, materials often respond unpredictably. Zhuyu does not impose rigid control over these elements; instead, she adjusts, responding to the materials’ feedback, allowing accidents to become integral to the work. This openness to uncertainty keeps the creative process in flux, generating possibilities beyond preconception. It is through this deep physical engagement that the concept of each piece emerges.
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Her work is not an execution of a fixed blueprint but a process of discovering relationships between materials—seeking logic in collisions, allowing them to negotiate balance. Every decision is guided by direct experience rather than abstract planning. Through welding, cutting, and assembling... forms take shape organically, shaped as much by intuition as by the physical properties of the materials themselves.
Zhuyu
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Ultimately, the completion of a work does not signify its conclusion but rather its transition into a new state. Its presence in the exhibition space, the shifting interplay of light, and the interactions between object and viewer continue to shape its meaning. Zhuyu’s practice is never a one-directional act of construction but an ongoing exploration—one in which material, space, and human presence remain inseparably entwined.
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