Mengya Zhao | Supersafe

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Mengya Zhao, "Supersafe"

Photo courtesy the artist.

Opening reception Saturday January 7th from Noon to 4.

THIS Gallery is excited to present a new solo exhibition, Supersafe, by Vancouver ceramicist, printmaker, graphic designer, and illustrator, Mengya Zhao.

Mengya Zhao is a multidisciplinary artist focusing mainly on ceramic sculptures, illustration and printmaking. She also participates in several public art projects including Suzhou Alley Women's Mural and Still Moon Festival. 

Zhao’s unique and exciting approach to ceramics pushes the boundaries of the medium. Hints of lobster, urchins, scales and fins are implied but never explicit. The organic forms suggest that the objects were grown rather than manufactured.

Her primary interest is to create an imagined world that explores new possibilities of reality. She states, “I am interested in using abstract forms to create daily subjects. First, I start with mugs.

I chose the mug because it is the first subject I interact with daily. As a coffee lover, I can't start a day without a cup. I want to use a most common object but add a layer of a unique twist to explore how far we will accept it and how wide of the range to define normal. Well, even your morning coffee mug can be a conversation opener to hold you back, pause, rethink, or discover more profound things under the surface.”

The more you look at Zhao’s work, the more there is to see. Her playful (yet ominously spiky) structures are also secret vessels of different heights, shapes and glazes. They resemble something between undulating sea anemones and blooming flora. But, in the end, these resemblances slip away to become entirely abstract.