Heavy Clouds 2
Liang Shaoji
梁绍基
Production date
2014
Object Detail
Media
camphor wood, silk, silkworm cocoons
Measurements
90 x 445 x 85 cm
Notes
The recurring symbol of the cloud in Chinese art history is associated with Daoist philosophy and the ‘qi’ of reciprocal yin and yang, the breath of the wind. Clouds are also a recurring motif in Liang Shaoji’s practice: Liang first created works in which silkworms covered sheets of glass or mirror with their threads in the early 1990s – he thought the silk resembled clouds reflected in a mirror. He has developed a unique process, raising countless generations of silkworms to enshroud all manner of humble objects with web-like silken threads, producing mysterious wrapped forms. In Chinese, the words for ‘silk’ and ‘poem’ sound similar, as do ‘silkworm’ and ‘Zen’. Later, he brought mirrors to the top of Tiantai Mountain (home to Daoist and Buddhist teachers and their temples since ancient times, and where Liang has his home and studio) and he photographed drifting clouds reflected in multiple mirrors. Floating beyond the physical realm of human existence, clouds remind us of the passage of time; they were also important metaphorical and aesthetic devices for Song and Yuan literati poets and painters, who created shan shui ink paintings depicting mountain peaks wreathed in clouds and mist. In the ‘Heavy Clouds’ series, Liang’s silkworms have enrobed pieces of ancient fossilized wood dating back to the Tang Dynasty with their silken threads. The artist relates these pieces to ‘yun gen’ (云根), a concept connected with the understanding of landscape and space in Chinese poetry and painting. This poetic term often refers to materials of great density, like stone or wood, which yet may take on cloudlike forms. It also relates to mountain peaks themselves, emerging from cloud formations. ‘Heavy Clouds’, says Liang Shaoji’s gallery, ‘accomplishes two feats: making wood appear as light as a cloud and a cloud appear as heavy as wood.’
Accession number
2019.081