During the lockdown and uncertainty many experienced recently, Nathan Zhou painted many objects and images with natural features, including flowers, cacti, woods, volcanoes, etc. These otherworldly imaginations have transformed the artist’s studio into intriguing natural worlds where he traveled and willfully played beautiful music in the mountains and forests, transforming reality into a dream world through music, meanwhile turning dreams into painted realities. The repetitive pink vases in these pictures are like clues stringing together various scenes, conjuring together the art artist's inner world like a group portrait.
The Sound of Nature: Nathan Zhou
Past exhibition
18 February - 2 April 2023
AIKE is pleased to present Nathan Zhou’s solo exhibition, “The Sound of Nature”, inviting musician LINFENG to present a sound piece on site. The show brings together the artist's paintings from the past two years and his explorations in sculpture and installation. The exhibition will be on view from 18 February to 2 April 2023.
In the last three years, Nathan Zhou's practice and experiments have focused on analyzing and contemplating the selfand his inner psyche. As he shifts from acrylic to oil painting, he's inclined to represent images on a spiritualdimension. These therianthropic figures (half-figure, half-animal) compete and play out their stories against an oneiricbackground. Zhou’s use of color has shifted from the bright primary colors of the early years to blended and moresubdued today while employing more sophisticated brushwork without compromising his straightforwardness.
In this exhibition, the sound piece, In the Dream of the Satin Bird, produced by musician LINFENG, comprises an audio experience that includes mysterious jungle rituals to the suspense of Hollywood-style oriental aesthetics. Lin Feng is keen on constructing a cinematic narrative with music, allowing the listener to fall into the dream world he has created.