‘bottle in a rice field’ by yi zhou in venice 2011 image © designboom

spotted in venice is young chinese artist yi zhou, whose work is presented in the exhibition ‘days of yi,’ a collateral event of the venice art biennale 2011. living between paris and shanghai, the artist has made a name for herself by experimenting with 3D technology in her films, and now the medium of sculpture. through a portfolio of multimedia works, the exhibition portrays the artist’s autobiographical journey, from her youthful fears to a peaceful state of maturity.

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 ‘bottle in a rice field’ detail image © designboom

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 ‘bottle in a rice field’ installation view image © designboom

‘bottle in a rice field’ and ‘pharrell vase’ are two later works that reflect the artist’s new optimism. modelled as a greek-style urn, the latter was rendered using a 3D scan of the recording artist and musical producer, pharrell williams. williams also stars in yi’s short film ‘the ear,’ an reinterpretation of nikolai gogol’s surrealist story ‘the nose.’

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 ‘pharrell vase’ by yi zhou image © designboom

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 ‘pharrell vase’ detail image © designboom

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 installation view of ‘bigfeet’ by yi zhou image © designboom

having established herself a new media artist, zhou contrasts these sculptures with projections of video works, including ‘bigfeet,’ a flash-animated video of ink brush paintings, and ‘the greatness,’ a digital 3D animation.

a reinterpretation of dante’s divine comedy, ‘the greatness’ explores the boundaries between reality and dreams, imagination and madness, and life and death. creating a heightened emotional experience, the soundtrack is a collaboration between the artist, parisian art cinema MK2, and academy award winning composer ennio morricone. having also created the soundtrack to yi’s video ‘the ear,’ morricone layers voices onto existing songs to creates palpable sensations through sound.

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 installation view of ‘the greatness’ by yi zhou image © designboom

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 alternate still of ‘the greatness’ image © designboom

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 ‘peacock performance’ by yi zhou image courtesy of arte communications

the space surrounding the film projections hosts a live peacock, for the work ‘peacock performance.’

yi zhou: chinese artist in venice 2011 artist yi zhou and curator achille bonito oliva image courtesy of arte communications

curated by achille bonito oliva and chang tsong-zung, ‘days of yi’ was commissioned by paolo de grandis and organized by the museum of contemporary art, shanghai. the exhibition is on view until november 27, 2011.