GENGXUE ZHENG
Flat Earth
The collection is inspired by the International Flat Earth Society, which claims that the Earth is flat. This seemingly absurd assumption, if you pull the timeline back to ancient times, represents a question about the shape of the Earth, which has tormented mankind for thousands of years. Human perception of the shape of the Earth is a long and interesting process. From the speculations of the ancient Babylonians to Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe in 1519, which proved that the Earth is round, mankind has come to the conclusion that the Earth is a sphere through constant transformation of assumption and verifications.
Gengxue uses a two-dimensional method to prove the various assumptions about the “flat Earth”. He uses contour lines to show heights, show topography with changes in line density, and illustrates three-dimensional space with distorted lines and varying line densities. He creates jewelry and objects by stacking geometric shapes while enjoying the process of working metal. It gives him a sense of peace when seeing the metal slowly extend during the pounding process.
Material
copper, silver, gold foil
Technique
spinning, keum boo, etching
Zheng Gengxue is a student at Birmingham City University, exploring the warmth of handmade craft as a jewelry designer and contemporary silversmith. He is currently pursuing his MA and focusing on using metal to tell the stories of objects.
His works combines the strong conceptual expression and bold forms that are characteristic of Western art, while also incorporating Eastern subtlety. He likes to allow silver objects to grow into sculptural three-dimensional forms.
From wearable jewelry to objects that can be easily held in the palm of one’s hand, he is always searching for a balance between usability and poetry. In the future, he aims to create more breathing metal works that allow for a gentle dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design.