Zhong Biao sits near his works in Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice in May. Photo: Courtesy of Zhong Biao

Standing in the hall of Santa Maria della Salute Church in Venice, with countless paintings around you seemingly suspended between the earth and sky of Shangri-la, one feels like they are falling from the dome. It's hard to believe the scene is only an exhibition of paintings.

This is Zhong Biao's latest exhibition called The Universe of Unreality, which is being presented in the church from May 13 to October 27.

Instead of hanging on the walls, this exhibition chose a different path and allowed the paintings to hang in "space," creating an illusion that matches the name of the exhibition. This is exactly the concept of Zhong's art works.

Zhong Biao studied oil painting at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Art (now known as the China Academy of Art) and is now an associate professor at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

Unlike most artists of his time, his creations entered the multidimensional world long ago. The singular concept that exists in all his works is to seek the ubiquitous connections behind the complex world by using his own special view of time and space.

As Zhong told the Global Times in an exclusive interview, "The Universe of Unreality is my most satisfying show up to now, it best summarizes my life thus far."

Yet, he doesn't stop. A brand new exhibition of his personal works, called Tailoring Clouds, will begin on August 31 in Suzhou Art Museum. According to Zhong, this show will be presented in a different form and be combined with different elements. After the show, he revealed he would "have a rest" for a while.

Spatial relationship

When talking about Zhong and his work, the expression of "views of time and space" will be used in all kinds of introductions. Zhong has a special interest and understanding of the complex world.

Xu Gang, curator of the Venice exhibition also said in his article about putting the Venice experience together, that "Zhong's works indeed are constantly trying to condense time in space, constantly promoting certain knowledge about the universe, history and human beings."

Zhong's epiphany came when he went to Shaanxi Province for an internship after his graduation in 1991. When he saw the Terra-Cotta Warriors - mortuary objects of China's first emperor Qin Shihuang (259BC-210BC) - and other historical relics around him, he suddenly felt "I was connected with all the past, it seemed that I've been existing all the time, but only came into a form at that time."

Since then, a door opened. Zhong kept investigating in this direction and settled on his way of creation. "As long as you find the channel, the ideas keep coming like a stream."

To explain his perspective, he said that one can never see the present. Even one waves and smiles in front of another, it takes a few seconds to see, and it is not the present anymore, one is seeing the past. If the distance in between is a light year, it probably already became history. If humans are able to design an astronomical telescope and see the Earth from another star that is light years away, the life of people in Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) may just be happening in front of us.

After thinking this through, he realized that everything exists at the same time, no matter whether it is the past or the future. One may have the experience that what is happening in front of them seems to have happened before, even though it didn't. That is the "already existing future."

And that is one of his proudest art works, Everything is pre-existent, revealed only in passing.

Styles of creation

Zhong's creating style has undergone three phases. In the starting phase, which was around 1994 to 2010, he tried to combine the Western and Eastern elements that exist at the same time in his art works, like AD1997.

His second phase started in 1998 and coincided with his starting phase for a few years. Unlike works in the beginning phase that have bright colors and clear strokes, he used sketches and left those works half-done, like Insomnia.

He said that the beginning phase was quite complete at that time, and when something is complete, it is hard to make a break through. "It is like the bones of a fan, if you walk along one bone and reach the end, it's hard to find a new direction. But if you go back to square one, lots of directions are in front of you." That's why he left those works half-done, to find a new creating style.

When he entered the third phase in 2009, he started from zero again. This time, he used chaos in his works. Unclear sketches and chaos gave birth to his brand new creating style, like the work The Tendency of Events.

However, Zhong said, "My first phase is about to end now, because The Universe of Unreality perfectly wraps up all my past."

First real combination

With the due date coming, Zhong is busy preparing for his brand new exhibition in Suzhou. And the interview with the Global Times is his first time to reveal information about the new exhibition to the media.

At his studio in Heiqiao, northeastern Beijing, he showed many interesting objects like a huge cage, and the model of a big bird. He said he borrowed lots of precious exhibits from many places like The National Museum, including remains of mammoth and jars from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). He will use all those "weird" things to present a new form of exhibition.

"I would like to recombine those elements, my works are the connections between them," said Zhong.

He said this exhibition will be really fantastic and interesting, and he has some new attempts this time: "I used to recombine different elements in my paintings, but this time I'm recombining those things for real."

However, Zhong expressed that he will take a break after this exhibition. "For decades, I feel I've been fighting everyday, and it's time to stop and feel the emptiness for a year or two, and travel around." Anticipating a conversion into a fourth phase, he is preparing to come up with a new idea in a more relaxed environment.

"If you want to thoroughly remold yourself, you have to change your fast pace of life."