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"Artistic creation is akin to seeking dark sources in the universe’s vast darkness, both mysterious and elusive, yet inherently fascinating. Exploring ways to unearth inner strength in finite lives and pursuing the other shores of the mind have always been the destinations I strive for."

Zhou Song is undoubtedly a conventional yet unconventional figure. In 2006, Zhou Song received the First Prize for Graduation Creative Award from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts with his undergraduate thesis work - The Weeping Soldier. In 2009, he held his first large-scale solo exhibition at the Today Art Museum in Beijing. In 2012, he gradually embarked on studies in the fields of science, cosmology, philosophy, religion, etc. By 2015, he started documenting his contemplation of the universe and devoted himself to writing Cosmic Systems Theory. In 2017, he produced the iconic large-scale work - New Genesis (510x250cm). From 2022 to 2023, Zhou Song completed his international touring exhibition project. The recent solo exhibition at the Powerlong Art Museum in Shanghai focuses on presenting his latest works from the "New Nature series", including his largest work to date - Enigmatic Realm（300x800cm）, created between 2022 and 2024.

However, the title of the exhibition, "Enigmatic Realm", should be immediately followed by a question mark. Borges mentioned in Shakespeare's Memory that the three faculties of humans: memory, comprehension, and volition, are not merely scholarly fantasies. Undoubtedly， Zhou Song's "New Nature Series" utilizes these three facilities in his works to the greatest extent. Thus, the collision between "Realism" and "Surrealism", and the tension between "stability" and "instability", accumulate within his works. His conceptual framework transcends traditional paradigms, venturing into the exploration of "cosmology" and "anthropology". As if a "philosopher", he first poses a question - Enigmatic Realm? Then, through artistic creation using different media and perspectives, he continuously and dialectically explores, creating bizarre yet cogent "conclusions of contemplation".

Painting is more than just depiction; it ventures into the realm of the unknown. "Enigmatic Realm" to "Enigmatic Realm?" serves as an inquiry into an enigma, embodying the irrational mixture of countless truths - the more absurd, the more realistic. In this maze full of stories, with memory as the material and individual understanding as the medium, what uniqueness will each audience generate? That's an intriguing question.

Matías Sánchez is one of Spain's most important contemporary painters. The "vice of painting" (El Vicio de Pintar) was passed on to Matías Sánchez by his father. At the age of thirteen, Sanchez decided that he wanted to become an artist and has pursued this path with determination and single-mindedness. His works are now part of important collections in Europe, South America，and the USA. The solo exhibition at the Powerlong Museum in Shangai is the first institutional solo exhibition in Asia.

The paintings by Matías Sánchez are like an opera. A production on a large stage, lavishly equipped with leading roles and many extras, with massive props and a baroque, overflowing stage set. However, they are more like a comic opera, an "opera buffa", whose protagonists are not fine aristocrats but quirky peasants, bearded robbers, toothless women，and torn painter princes. They whirl wildly across the canvas and sing evil songs about the state of our times.

 

His absurdly grotesque scenes are modeled in oil paint in such a tactilely seductive and virtuoso manner that all the grotesque brutality of his protagonists gives way to the pure beauty of painting. Sánchez's paintings are visual gems, full of esprit and cheerful seriousness, cheeky and witty, amusing and virtuoso. They indulge in the sensuality of the brushstroke, the elegance of color this and much more is promised by the vice of painting.