When you leave the classrooms in E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center, stop by the Mauzé Family Terrace, where you will encounter our new campus sculpture 假山石 119号 / Artificial Rock #119 by Beijing-based artist Zhan Wang.
This sculpture is part of the artist’s ongoing series of sculpture Artificial Rocks, which have been collected by numerous institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The DeYoung Museum and Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; and the British Museum, London. The series consists of fabricated stainless steel sculptures replicating the “scholar’s rock” (假山石), which were naturally-eroded rocks traditionally placed in the gardens of Chinese intellectuals as a manifestation of literati sentiment and moral qualities. The sculpture thus provides the site for a subtle union between the natural rock and the man-made stainless steel, redefining “nature” in the context of an artificial age. At the same time, the scholar’s rock, which has been in a state of constant transformation under the power of nature, undergoes a new transformation by the hands of humans that give the rock an eternal quality. Placing the artificial rock on our campus, surrounded by modern architecture, calls into question our own experience with nature and the urban environment. At the same time, it negotiates a space to shelter people’s return for nature and their noble imagination of the power of nature in material life.
The sculpture dedication will take place on Friday, October 22nd at 4:30 p.m. on the Mauzé Family Terrace at the E. Craig Wall Jr. Academic Center. The event will feature President Carol Quillen, Dr. Cort Savage, Prof. of Sculpture and Chair of the Art Department, Dr. Rosaline Kyo, Assistant Professor of Art and Chinese Studies, and Sarah Zhang ’23. Although Zhan Wang will not be able to come on campus, we have received a video from the artist where he talked about his inspirations, below.
Gift of the families of Augusta and Gill Holland, Astri and Barrett Kollme, Siri Lise and Robb Doub, in honor of Siri and J. Gill Holland Sr., Professor Emeritus of English.