Making waves with water

Grave of Honor, a sculpture resembling a human heart.

"He committed suicide when he was at the top.

"It fascinates me that one would disappear when he is at the top, leaving a lot of things for people to reflect on and talk about," he says.

Zheng's show also has 15 works in varied media, which he has been working with for the past two years, including sculpture installations, lacquer painting on aluminum plates, and videos. Every piece shows him digging into the connotation and extended meaning of "water".

Zheng first addressed water as a subject in his art in 2007.

He had at the time explored the possibility of transforming 2-D Chinese characters into 3-D spatial sculptures and installations.

He used the metal technique of open-work carving to create large, irregularly shaped pieces and carved poems and verses of Chinese classics on the surfaces.

Zheng's childhood was filled with literary pursuits - he learned calligraphy from his grandfather and poetry from his father, a literature enthusiast.

When looking for meaningful writings for his works, Zheng was struck by a work of Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) poet Bai Juyi titled Wan Zhi Shui (Reflections on Still Water).

The poem compares water with one's state of mind, and says that one should be focused and settled to know what one really wants.