Mendes Wood DM presents Leah Ke Yi Zheng’s second solo exhibition, following the gallery’s representation of the Chinese-born, Chicago-based artist. Spanning two floors, the show features twelve silk paintings on irregularly shaped wood stretchers and a hand-painted video work.
The ground floor focuses on I-Ching hexagrams, each painting representing themes like power, limitation, and clarity. The lower level explores mechanical gears and mathematical devices, reflecting on time and modernity. For the first time, Zheng overlays I-Ching hexagrams onto these mechanical forms, merging ancient philosophy with industrial precision. A suspended silk work allows light to pass through, revealing both recto and verso.
Zheng’s work balances her training in traditional Chinese landscape painting with Western avant-garde influences. Her silk surfaces blur materiality and meaning, creating layered abstractions. A.E. Benenson’s essay connects her work to vexierbild—puzzle images like Dürer’s Melencolia I—and Jung’s concept of synchronicity, where meaning emerges through layered, interwoven elements.
By incorporating fusée clockwork mechanisms, Zheng contrasts mystical intuition with mechanical precision, questioning how art navigates time and abstraction. Her paintings defy linear interpretation, creating a space where tradition, technology, and meaning remain in constant flux.
