kun zhang

1990 Beijing, China

education

2016 – 2018 master of fine arts, department of gemstone and jewellery design, Hochschule Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Germany
2012 –  2015 bachelor of fine arts, department of gemstone and jewellery design, Hochschule Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Germany
2011 – 2012 goldsmith course in jewellery, Hochschule Pforzheim, Pforzheim, Germany

exhibitions

since 2014

awards

2019 Perron-Kunst Prize (1st Förderpreis), sculpture, Stadt Frankenthal, Germany
2019 3rd Prize BKV for Young Applied Arts, Munich, Germany
2018 Marzee Graduate Prize, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
2016 Staatspreis & Förderpreis für das Kunsthandwerk, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
2016 selected for Talente, Internationale Handwerksmesse, Munich, Germany

about the work

Kun Zhang cuts extremely thin pins out of ebony wood. This type of wood is characterized by a high density, which makes it hard to model. Still, Zhang’s pieces are all handmade.
The abstract form of her objects makes its appearance minimalistic; life reduced to lines, like in the work by Brancusi. At the same time, the sharp pointed pin is warning us to be careful, because it reminds us of violence – much in the same way as in the beautiful artwork by Lucio Fontana.
When you wear the ebony pin, it shows all you can imagine a pin can represent. It refers to a Roman fibula holding your gown. It also refers to the closure, the back pin for fixing a brooch, turning the wearer into a jewel. And last but not least this pin is long and sharp! It is a needle, a weapon and a lance or spit for everyone coming too close.
© doreen timmers

Kun Zhang, Körper (Body), 2020, object, chacate preto, 53 x 35 x 39 mm, photo: courtesy of the artist, courtesy Galerie Door