Zheng Guogu

The exhibition "My home is your museum" in Vitamin Creative space is by Chinese based artist, Zheng Guogu. He builds up another space inside of Vitamin Creative Space to make dialogue with the space where he is living and working in Yangjiang (a small coastal city in Guangdong province in south of China and 3 hours away from Guangzhou by bus). He packed up all his living conditions in Yangjiang and transferred them into Vitamin Creative Space, to accomplish the transition between art and his life. - Hu Fang

Standing front of the entrance of Vitamin Creative Space to see inside, the inner physical space of Vitamin is like a garden, a wooden bridge above the pond and small path divided by different kinds of the trees. Walking into the garden, the usual garden landscape is transforming in Vitamin Space, calligraphy installation instead of the water in the pond and the artworks by different media (photography, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, installation) dispersedly presented in the garden landscape.

The experience in Zheng Guogu's exhibition in Vitamin Creative Space evoked my memory in his living environment in Yangjiang. He bought three apartments in the constant three floors, then demolished all the floors and built another architecture inside of these apartments, "it is architecture which grew up from inside of the building", Zheng Guogu said. There is also mini garden with fish pond, trees and the waterfall inside of the architecture. The artworks by Zheng Guogu is like the fragments to scatter in the architecture, ultimately the whole space is piece of work by Zheng Guogu.

To retrospect Zheng Guogu's work within last 10 years, it seems it is very hard to get a clear clue which idea he is building up consistently. He is very difficult to be categorized, artist, interior designer or architect? He uses all kinds of media, photography, painting, performance, video, sculpture and installation in his works. He realized very fringe architecture which becomes monumental in the city where he lives. The concept of his work goes to very wide range and covers, artist's identity, consumption culture, history, urbanization development in south of China, global art market in China and young people's life changes in the Chinese modern society. He uses his sensitivity to respond very quickly to the social changes in China, meanwhile looking for the possibility as artist in the fringe of mainstream in the modern society.

The way how he creates the work has the similar ideology with Chinese traditional painting. The difference is that he makes the work in the process of his life instead of on a piece of paper. There is certain focus in his process, but all his work is like sparkle of his idea to flash at certain point during his life. What he is thinking is what he feels.

At this moment, it reminds me one of his photo which is presented at the entrance of vitamin creative space: Me and my teacher, which is a photo about the artist himself with a mad man squat together.

(Zhang Wei)

Zheng Guogu
My Home is Your Museum