LINSEED欣然呈现Zearo（b. 1996, 吉隆坡）在亚洲的首次个展“假如我从这里经过”（If I Pass Right by Here），一系列全新作品探索情感联结与自我认知间的模糊关系。展览将于2024年9月13日开幕，并将持续至2024年10月29日。
Zearo
抵达，花之梦 Arriving, a flowered dream, 2024
和纸上混合材料 Pigment and ink on washi
117 × 271 cm
乍看，《一场游戏一场梦》似乎是一幅传统的三联画，三部分图像彼此独立，互不相连；但它并非叙事的碎片，而是流动的空间，我们跟随画中人物从右至左穿行，所见之物始于孤独，也终于孤独。画面中央则聚焦于一群人物，他们寻找着某种联结——浪漫、肉欲，或是自我感知——却往往求而不得。
Zearo
一场游戏一场梦 A Game and a Dream, 2024
和纸上混合材料 Pigment and ink on washi
117 × 283.5 cm
《一场游戏一场梦》的开端和结尾，氲染了本场展览许多图像的基调；这种来来往往的感觉，不仅包括人物在空间中的游移，还捕捉着许多稍纵即逝的煽情。画面中心的一个人指着自己的倒影，并与之攀谈；在其身旁还有一个模糊的轮廓，仿佛是在找自己的路途中显现了另一个人。展览所处的空间也像这副画作一般，充斥着反射与循环，如同人与人在顷刻之间的相依相离。
Zearo
春分路上 Way of Equinox, 2024
和纸上混合材料，宣纸装裱
Pigment on washi, mounted on rice paper
161 × 107 cm
《春分路上》将这种暗示转化为深刻的失落之感。一个背对我们的身影拾级而上，而在身后几步之遥，他的影子几乎要烙刻在台阶里。身处楼梯两侧的面具之间，他仿佛正在我们眼前逐渐消散。在展览所基于的理解里，建立有意义的联结并非易事，维持则更是难上加难，丢失这些联结也可能意味着失去一部分自我。自然而然地，画中人物去往的许多房间对观众而言都隐匿且遥不可及，我们总是在中间地带捕捉到他们，这些时刻充满了变迁的机缘。
Zearo
伊卡洛斯 Icaruses，2024
和纸上混合材料，宣纸装裱
Pigment on washi, mounted on rice paper
150 × 117 cm
Zearo笔下的人物形象，往往在彼此相连时才展现得最为完整。一对人物亲密地纠缠，影射伊卡洛斯的坠落，这是本次展览中反复出现的意象。作品顶端撕裂的画布，仿佛是两个人物的紧紧拥抱才使整幅画面保持完整，人与人之间的联结能够缝合整个世界。其他图像中的孤独——社交媒体上的灰色头像、空置的家庭空间、未浇水的花朵——则与那些充满生机的人物场景形成了鲜明对比。
Zearo
不是你的秋天 An autumn not yours, 2024
和纸上混合材料，宣纸装裱
Pigment on washi, mounted on rice paper
37 × 54 cm
展览所构建的世界存在于阴影、反射和循环中，其所处的建筑也体现了身心的来来往往。《不是你的秋天》里，无名之人正迈入一个新的空间；他身后投射出的影子弯着腰，好像西西弗斯推着巨石上山。就像西西弗斯那样，「假如我从这里经过」也在这些不可能的任务中找到了意义，甚至是美感：我们的孤独也许会在对的时间、对的空间里就此终结。
文 / 萨姆 · 摩尔 Sam Moore
关于艺术家
Zearo
阁楼迷思 Attic's Myth , 2024
拼贴、和纸上混合材料，宣纸装裱
Pigment, ink and collage on washi, mounted on rice paper
97 × 75 cm
艺术家近期个展包括：“假如我从这里经过”，2024，LINSEED，上海；“in dust time”，2024，The Sunday Painter，伦敦；其近期群展包括：“X的收藏202：一个男人的肖像”，2024，X 美术馆，北京；“YA!”，2023，3812 Gallery，伦敦；“Across & Over”，2023，HSBC HQ，伦敦；“Tightrope”，2023，The Bomb Factory ArtFoundation，伦敦；“Wild is the Wind”，2023，Hew Hood Gallery，伦敦；“Present Life”，2023，Plain Gallery，米兰；“Bloomberg New Contemporaries”，2022，South London Gallery，伦敦；“Come One Come All”，2022，The Function Suite，伦敦；“RAW-RCA WIP Show”，2021，Soho Revue，伦敦。
Zearo
派底牌四重奏 Bottom Deal Quartet , 2024
和纸上混合材料，宣纸装裱
Pigment and ink on washi, mounted on rice paper
106.5 × 157 cm
其重要收藏包括英国政府艺术典藏（Government Art Collection，英国）、X 美术馆（X Museum，北京）及其他国际私人收藏。
萨姆 · 摩尔（Sam Moore）是一位作家、艺术家和编辑。著有 “All my teachers died of AIDS”（Pilot Press，2020）、“Long live the new flesh”（Polari Press，2022）、 “Chesil Cliff House and other failures”（Sticky Fingers，2023）和 “Search history”（Queer Street Press，2023）。同时，摩尔是伦敦的跨性别活动和出版计划TISSUE的联合策划人之一。
LINSEED is pleased to present the first solo exhibition of Zearo (b.1996, Kuala Lumpur) in Asia. The exhibition, "If I Pass Right by Here", will be on view from September 13 to October 29, 2024, with a body of work that explores the liminal space between emotional connections and senses of oneself.
At first glance, A Game and a Dream looks like a traditional triptych; the three parts of the image seeming distinct, separated from one another. But rather than being fragments of a narrative, A Game and a Dream presents one fluid space, as we follow a figure, moving from right to left through a space. Their journey begins and ends in isolation; the central panel dedicated to groups of people trying to find some kind of connection – romantic, sexual, even connecting to their sense of self – even if they’re unable to find it.
So many of the images in ‘If I pass right by here’ are defined by the first and final thirds of A Game and a Dream; this sense of coming and going, physical entrances and exits also capturing the fleeting nature of so many emotional, or erotic connections. In the middle of A Game and a Dream is a figure pointing and talking to their own reflection, presented alongside a faint outline, as if this speaker sees someone else in front of them, unable to find the way to explore their sense of self. The spaces that adorn this show are, like A Game and a Dream, reflective and cyclical, as, physically and psychically, people attach and come unstuck from one another at moment’s notice.
Way of Equinox turns this idea into a visceral loss. A figure, back to us, ascends a staircase and, a few steps behind, almost burn into the steps, is his shadow. Flanked by masks, he appears to be coming undone before our eyes. ‘If I pass right by here’ understands that, while meaningful connections are difficult to make, and harder still to maintain, losing them can also mean losing a sense of who we are. It’s no wonder that so many of the rooms that these figures move towards remain out of sight and unreachable for us; we always catch them in spaces in-between, moments full of the possibility for transformation.
Zearo’s figures are at their most fully-formed when they connect with one another. A pair are locked in an intimate grapple, reminiscent of the fall of Icaruses (an image that recurs throughout the show), although it seems as if the way these two hold onto each other literally keeps the image together – the top of the canvas is beginning to tear – as if these connections are able to hold the world itself together. The loneliness in other images – the greyfaced portraits of social media websites, bare domestic spaces, un-watered flowers – exists in stark contrast to those where figures are connected, full of life and possibility.
The world of ‘If I pass right by here’ exists in shadows, reflections, and cycles. The architecture of the show itself embodying the physical and emotional sense of coming and going. In An autumn not yours, an anonymous figure begins to step away into a new space. Behind him, cast in shadow, is a hunched shadow, like Sisyphus rolling his boulder uphill. ‘If I pass right by here,’ like Sisyphus, finds meaning and even beauty in these impossible tasks, in the possibility that, in the right space, at the right time, our loneliness might come to an end.
Text by Sam Moore
About the Artist
Zearo was born in 1996 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He he obtained his MA in painting from the Royal College of Art in 2023, currently lives and works in London. Zearo's work is influenced by medieval and Chinese 'garden' spaces as well as traditional scroll paintings, inviting the viewer to move through the spatial scenes from a multitude of perspectives. The images are an exploration of desire, past memories and masculinity, exploring the subtle connection between same-sex relationships and psychological change. The implied homoerotic perspective challenges the traditional norms of the male gaze, capturing the male figure in various states of perception, expressing the complexity of self-confrontation and the fear of loneliness, abandonment, and separation. Zearo uses a combination of chalk pastels and other mediums to construct a caring and intimate visual narrative, presenting the process of self-regulation of vulnerability and the rebuilding of courage in the course of prolonged contemplation.
His recent solo exhibitions include: “ If I Pass Right by Here”, 2024, LINSEED, Shanghai; “in dust time”, 2024, The Sunday Painter, London; His recent selected group exhibitions include: “X Collection 202: Portrait of a Man’", 2024, X Museum, Beijing; “YA!”, 2023, 3812 Gallery, London; “Across & Over”, 2023，HSBC HQ, London; “Tightrope”, 2023, The Bomb Factory ArtFoundation, London; “Wild is the Wind”, 2023, Hew Hood Gallery, London; “Present Life”, 2023, Plain Gallery, Milan; “Bloomberg New Contemporaries”, 2022, South London Gallery, London; “Come One Come All”, 2022, The Function Suite, London; “RAW-RCA WIP Show”, 2021, Soho Revue, London.
Zearo's work is held in notable collections including Government Art Collection, UK; X Museum, China and is included in private collections internationally.
Sam Moore is a writer, artist, and editor. They are the author of All my teachers died of AIDS (Pilot Press, 2020), Long live the new flesh (Polari Press, 2022), Chesil Cliff House and other failures (Sticky Fingers, 2023), and Search history (Queer Street Press, 2023). They are one of the co-curators of TISSUE, a trans events and publishing initiative based in London.
