Zhao Yao
Spirit Above All
2015-2017
Fabric
Spirit Above All was a large-scale installation on Mount Zengerga, by the Moye Temple in Baizha village, Nangqên County of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The work is 116 meters long and 86 meters wide, and a continuation of the 2012 eponymous series of work. The patterns are drawn from the mind game graphics in “A Painting of Thought”, taking reference from the production method of large-scale cloth-pasted thangkas in the Tibetan area, and made in the size of the massive thangka in Maya Temple. The 10,000-square-meter painting was stretched on top of Mt. Zengerga with the help of more than 150 local villagers and lamas. Placed alongside the Buddhist sutra streamers, white pagodas, and cliffside murals which naturally inhabited the valley, the painting reflected its natural and cultural environment. The work remained on display for five months, exposed to climate conditions throughout the winter of 2016/2017. Its wear and tear was monitored as a part of a collaborative community project of ‘drying the painting’.
Zhao Yao
The Power of Nature: A Ten Thousand Square Meter Painting in Beijing
18th May 2018
Paper model, pictures
The Power of Nature was a happening, a ritual, and an exhibition of Spirit Above All carried out at the Workers’ Stadium in Beijing. It was the first full-display of the near 10,000m2 painting after its return from rural Tibetan areas to the urban environment, and an important continuation of this series of work. In the backdrop of the Beijing cityscape, Spirit Above All highlights its history in the natural, cultural, and religious settings of the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where the work laid on display atop Mt. Zengerga throughout the winter of 2016/2017. The exhibition also recalls institutional and collective memories inherent to the Workers’ Stadium, a monumental public sphere with unique cultural significance in Beijing and China, and thereby the most appropriate exhibition venue for the enormous painting Spirit Above All.
About Zhaoyao：
Zhao Yao was born in Sichuan province in 1981 and graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in 2004. He currently lives and works in Beijing. His solo exhibitions include “51m: 3# Zhao Yao” at Taikang Space (Beijing, 2010); “Zhao Yao: I Am Your Night” and “Zhao Yao: You Can’t See Me, You Can’t See Me” at Beijing Commune (Beijing, 2011 and 2012); “Spirit Above All” (London, 2013) and “A Painting of Thought” at (Hong Kong, 2015) at Pace Gallery; “The Power of Nature:A Ten Thousand Square Meter Painting in Beijing” at Workers’ Stadium (Beijing, 2018); “Signals from Heaven,Signals from Heaven” at Beijing Commune (Beijing, 2018). Group exhibitions include Fremantle Arts Centre , Australia( 2011); Rubell Family Collection, Miami(2013); Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan(2013); Pinchuk Art Centre , Ukraine(2013); ZKM Center, Germany(2013); UCCA, Beijing(2013); Boijmans Van Beuningen, Nederland,(2014); Inside China, Palais de Tokyo, Paris(2014); Adventures of the Black Square, Whitechapel Gallery, London(2015); Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai(2019).