Zhang Zhao Ying (China) was shortlisted for his work Myth Party, centred around making elaborate manipulations over the original surface, building from past visual experiences and creating a new field where discussions and dialogues can be carried out amidst absurd narrations.
Can you tell us about your artistic process? How do you create the base layer, then add the manipulations on top?
When I was studying art in Brussels in early stage, I had known many materials relevant the church. In the process of creation, I would keep the church images as the shell of faith and discuss human relationships. I added the concept of the spiritual theatre to the works, fabricated or falsified the church images in paintings, and ended up with the completion little by little in an ascetic way.
Are there any particular examples of pop culture or mythology that inspired this artwork?
In fact, there is no definite direction. What the series of works would like to explore is the human belief issue, which lies on the level of personal will or psychology. Maybe it will be staged beliefs for humans. For example, pop culture may be the belief for a part of people now.
