Alchemy of Mountains and Sea

Alchemy of Mountains and Sea is a solo exhibition by established multidisciplinary contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Huajie.

Zhang’s work has been shown in China and internationally. In early 2020 he was visiting Australia, but his visit was prolonged because of the COVID-19 imposed restrictions on international travel.

While in Australia, Zhang has been greatly inspired by the landscape and the Aboriginal culture. He has created a striking new body of works using natural pigments such as ochres, shells, and ash from recent bushfires. He crushed and processed these materials himself using an ancient Chinese process that uses water and wind to retrieve coloured inks from natural materials called Tao Cheng Fei Die 淘澄飞跌.

These highly textured, almost sculptural works have a strong focus on the beauty of the materials but at the same time are evocative of the Australian landscapes.