Haojun Zhou

Haojun Zhou is a Chinese artist currently based in London.

Experiences(selected)

2020 Teaching placement internship at Edinburgh College of Art

2020 Jewellery Culture Exchange, London & Tokyo, London Sunny Art Centre

2019 ‘One Man Band’ collaborate project with London Horniman Museum

2019 THREE PATHS Academic Nominated Exhibition of China’s Contemporary Crafts

2019 RCA WIP show

2019 Matter - morphosis, Dyson Gallery

2018 Contemporary Metal and Glass Crafts Exhibition with Lu Sun Academy of Arts

2016 Selected exhibition in Nanjing Historical and Cultural City Expo awarded by Nanjing Municipal Museum

Contact

Degree Details

Jewellery & Metal (MA)

I have always been interested in challenging accepted principles and ideas. Being an international student has been an eye-opening experience for me in reshaping my perceptions about the world and allowing me the opportunity to build on my wish to see things differently.At the RCA, I have realised that exploratory and flexible thinking is necessary for me as an urgent response to a fast-changing contemporary world experiencing unprecedented global events that demand change of us all, my generation especially. In 2020 I am using art as a tool to question our approach to established systems and in particular to question the thinking behind the accepted practices and attitudes of our times.

We use thinking to create the conditions of our existence but we must remember that thinking is itself conditioned by the way our minds work, there are subliminal processes at work that we have no control over, so the whole process is like a loop and we need to find new perceptions to break the circle.

I believe that true acts of perception happen when we recognise these limits in the thinking process, we must always question the ‘common sense’ and immediate experience as well as what everybody takes for granted.

Air Diamond Rings, 2020 — A series of hollowed out diamond shapes in silver ring settings embedded in a clear resin block with a finger hole in the centre. ----------------------------------------- Meanings are restricted and conditioned by both general cultural conditioning and personal subculture conditioning. In Michael Craig-Martin’s signature work “An Oak Tree”, a glass of water on a glass shelf on metal brackets 253 centimetres above the ground and a text mounted on the wall, was described as an oak tree. For me, this work marked a new reading of contemporary art. This piece informed me, for the very first time, of other perceptions to define meaning when meaning itself was hugely changed. ----------------------------------------- Meaning is primarily socially and culturally constructed. In that sense, the range of meaning that arises would be very limited if we were isolated individuals. Without some common social relationships and cultural communications, meaning would not develop in a significant manner. ----------------------------------------- Inspired by the field of jewellery, I feel that diamond has been embedded extra emotional values. There is a sense among us that the meaning of diamond tends to be symbolic, instead of solely a beautiful, expensive stone. The meaning of the word ‘diamond’ has therefore also been borrowed to signify a certain level of quality, as in promotional discourse like ‘diamond princess ship’, ‘a diamond membership card’, etc.

Air Diamond Rings — In this work, I am simply providing visual clues which make people automatically complete a picture of a precious diamond ring in their mind. However, this is a deception. If you were to turn it over and find out the diamond is absent, you may perceive a new meaning to this object instead of what you have taken for granted.

An Air Diamond Ring — The ring has two different sides, on one side you can see a diamond ring and on the other side you will recognize that the diamond is absent, so you will need to choose which side is facing you and which side is facing others.

A Wearable Public Sculpture — conceptual render, 2019 ----------------------------------------- When the size of the ring is enlarges to human size, the meaning of the ring changes as well, turning from a piece of private jewellery to a public sculpture which also gives other people an opportunity to get involved in it, and feel the meaning of a ring in person.

Meanings are restricted and conditioned by both general cultural conditioning and personal subculture conditioning. In Michael Craig-Martin’s signature work “An Oak Tree”, a glass of water on a glass shelf on metal brackets 253 centimetres above the ground and a text mounted on the wall, was described as an oak tree. For me, this work marked a new reading of contemporary art. This piece informed me, for the very first time, of other perceptions to define meaning when meaning itself was hugely changed.

Meaning is primarily socially and culturally constructed. In that sense, the range of meaning that arises would be very limited if we were isolated individuals. Without some common social relationships and cultural communications, meaning would not develop in a significant manner.

Inspired by the field of jewellery, I feel that diamond has been embedded extra emotional values. There is a sense among us that the meaning of diamond tends to be symbolic, instead of solely a beautiful, expensive stone. The meaning of the word ‘diamond’ has therefore also been borrowed to signify a certain level of quality, as in promotional discourse like ‘diamond princess ship’, ‘a diamond membership card’, etc.

In this work, I am simply providing visual clues which make people automatically complete a picture of a precious diamond ring in their mind. However, this is a deception. If you were to turn it over and find out the diamond is absent, you may perceive a new meaning to this object instead of what you have taken for granted.

Medium: white precious metal, epoxy resin and air

A Chair in A Topsy-Turvy World — WHAT IF WE DON'T WALK ON OUR FEET? Using familiar daily objects to create a surreal reality where people don’t walk on their feet, these ‘Topsy- Turvy world’ series of works set up a parallel reality and propose a different perspective on everyday life. This work offers an opportunity to step back from our reality, and for a moment, become aware of our conditioning and look at the mundane with fresh eyes.

WHAT IF WE DON'T WALK ON OUR FEET?

Using familiar daily objects to create a surreal reality where people don’t walk on their feet, these ‘Topsy-
Turvy world’ series of works set up a parallel reality and propose a different perspective on everyday life. This work offers an opportunity to step back from our reality, and for a moment, become aware of our conditioning and look at the mundane with fresh eyes.

Medium: A second-hand chair, nails, a ready-made walking stick, brass, ink

All Mine Not Mine, 2020 — This work is an experiment I made to experience and explore the meaning of ‘ownership’. For me, there is no real ownership in the world. The misunderstanding of ‘owning’ has been divisive, separating us and the world. The fragmentation of thoughts, in the same way, is stopping us to see the whole picture of the cosmos. My place, my gender, my colour, my country, my faith,... there are too many boxes out there for us to put our sense of belongings into and stem our perceptions out from. As we fit ourselves into a certain group, we are entitled to certain ownerships in the meantime. If we plunge deeper into our thoughts, however, the sense of belongingness is actually the same thing as that of ownership. In the traditional Chinese culture, a person could use a seal with his own name on it to mark a painting or handwriting piece if it belongs to him. Today, antique collectors, by looking at who had owned a work, see these stamps as evidence in tracing the history of a painting. In this work, seals are presented as an embodiment of human’s ownership under this certain context.

Stamps in Public — In this work, there is a dichotomy of public spaces and private spaces. In Stage 1, I used my seal to mark things in the public space which is open to all. With all the awkwardness and nervousness during the marking process as well as a large amount of things I marked, I didn’t feel at any time that things truly belonged to me.

Stamps on Body — Then in Stage 2, I tried to stamp on my body in the sense that a body is the most private thing for anyone in the physical world. Unlike Stage 1, when it comes to my body, this time I can make as many stamps as I want with fewer awkward thoughts. However, similarly, I didn’t feel anything changed after I have marks stamped all over my body. That is the very moment that makes me question what ‘ownership’ is, and whether there is a real owner at all. First, I find that we actually don’t even have any control of our body. If we do, there will be no illness, no death, no pandemic or other uncontrollable stuff that happens to it. Second, the very fact that our body will finally be part of the earth when we die is known to all. In this light, the concept of ‘own’ is as fragmented as our thoughts. Why do human beings have to wait until they die to embrace wholeness?

This work is an experiment I made to experience and explore the meaning of ‘ownership’. For me, there is no real ownership in the world. The misunderstanding of ‘owning’ has been divisive, separating us and the world. The fragmentation of thoughts, in the same way, is stopping us to see the whole picture of the cosmos. My place, my gender, my colour, my country, my faith,... there are too many boxes out there for us to put our sense of belongings into and stem our perceptions out from.
As we fit ourselves into a certain group, we are entitled to certain ownerships in the meantime. If we plunge deeper into our thoughts, however, the sense of belongingness is actually the same thing as that of ownership.

About

Contact

Degree Details

Statement

Air Diamond Rings, 2020

A Topsy-Turvy World, 2019

All Mine, Not Mine, 2020