Profile: Xiaowu Zheng

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About Xiaowu Zheng : XIAOWU ZHENG(b. 1998, Changsha, Hunan Province, China)
is an artist and fashion designer who currently lives and works in New York. He studied Photography during VIAR Summer Program in Columbia University, New York in 2017 and he earned his B.F.A. in Fashion Design Program and minor in Film/Video Program from Pratt Institute in 2020. His works have been exhibited in United States, including The First Seven Runway, Spring Studio(2021); Man in the Corner Solo Exhibition, Mu Project, Manhattan, New York(2019); ‘47 Redesign,‘47 Flagship Store, Boston, MA (2018) and Summer Photo Intensive Exhibition, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York (2017).
Zheng focus on exploring and challenging the concept of morality, from the noisy moody stream of consciousness to the search of violence, mystery, horror and sex. Most of his works use clothing as a form of medium and outlet to illustrate the floating thoughts and dark emotions of his depression. Instead of shy away from those disturbing topics, he takes inspirations from the dark side of humanity and creates a utopia of chaos and violence. Besides from clothing, which is his specialty, Zheng collaborates with other artists from different fields to expand his work and idea through using different types of medium such as 3D modeling, installation, jewelry, film and photography.
STATEMENT OF ART:
“So what do you want to talk about?” This is one of the important questions I would ask often to myself before I jump into any work that I’m creating. Clothing is nothing more, but pieces of fabric held together by the threads, but the stories and meanings behind them are what makes them special. And that’s what I do, I’m an artist and fashion designer who is trying to share my own chilling fiction stories through clothing on my own terms.

Going back to my very first collection, Karma, I told the effects of depression and emotional struggles on one’s spirit through the deconstruction of everyday clothing. Psychotic, my second collection took a deep dive into the darker side of my brain to visit the “residents” who each hold a different piece of me. I visualize them by using the existing human body as canvas then reshape it with clothing through the amplification of shoulders and experimentation on fabric draping. The story of my third collection Man in the Corner is about what the members of my fictional cult group would have to endure in my cult in search of discussion on the topic of violence and morality. The fascination towards horror genre and the wanting of constant self-exploration are the key factors that connect between me and the wearer, so all my collections are connected by the influence of horror from different angles. The end goal for my collections is to give an opportunity for people to have a discussion on dark obscure topics. There is no result needed for the conversations, because the void is necessary for absorption on the clash of distinct ideologies.

Instinct drives my work; question pushes the boundary. I envision myself as a director of a thriller movie franchise, so the core research of my inspiration is not usually on clothing itself. Art work (Leonor Fini, Patricia Piccinini), photography (Francesca Woodman, Daido Moriyama) and movies(Lars von Trier) feed into the visual, it then slowly transforms into silhouette, textile or trim. Music, historical events and related reading creates the whole environment, and they determine my color palette, detail and fabric choice. The cohesion of visual and environment is important, because they are guidelines to my building of the storyline and direction of concept. The story and the universe that the collection is in are the most significant things in my entire development process, because without them there would be no standing ground for my creations.

From the technical aspect, I continue to explore the possibilities of my silhouettes and construction through draping. Suiting elements such as shoulder pad, lapel or welt pockets have always been an important aspect of my collections because of my love for tailoring. I have a passion for breaking the traditional silhouette and love toward anti-fashion, but I believe a great innovation cannot live without good finishing choice and the understanding of construction. I have a tendency to play with a more traditional idea or element of a garment but take a totally different spin on it. For instance, in Man in the corner I played with the idea of creating floral prints to appear normal and lighthearted from a distance but have disturbing imagery when you look up closely.

My point of view is heavily influenced by my personal life. I grew up in China as a gay boy who had a battle with his own sexuality and identity until I decided to move to New York for my education when I was 16. So even though my work has gender specific pieces, I embrace the idea that clothing itself has no assigned gender and can be worn by anyone. My Chinese background and western lifestyle are merged together and has shaped my way of seeing social and political topics from both the western and eastern stance.

My personal work is provocative, controversial, theatrical and conceptual. I enjoy making experimental clothing that is more for special events and used as installation, but I’m also capable of reinterpreting them into more accessible styles. I would categorize my customers to be educated young adults who are not afraid of expressing their opinion or emotion, someone that loves to make a statement with artistic style and shops at Dover Street Market. Maison Martin Margiela, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Demna Gvasalia are three designers who have had a huge impact on my approach of seeing fashion, they made me realize I don’t need to create “beautiful” outfits that are appealing to the eyes of the majority. Chaos and rawness somehow can make a stronger statement.

ORGANIZATION:
Saadia Group

EDUCATION:
Sept 2021-Present, Master of Business Administration, Trine University, Angola/ USA
Sept 2016 – May 2020, Fashion Design BFA, minor in Film/Video, Pratt Institute, New York/ USA
May 2017 – Aug 2017, Summer Intensive Photography Program, Columbia University, New York/ USA

EXPERIENCE:
Aug 2020 – Present, Menswear Designer, Saadia Group, New York/ USA
Jan 2020 – May 2020, Women’s Wear Design Intern, Yumi Kim, New York/ USA
Jun 2019 – Aug 2019, Apparel Design Intern, Fame Fashion House, New York/ USA
Jun 2018 – Aug 2018, Fashion Design Intern, Han Wen, New York/ USA

PRIVATE EXHIBITIONS:
2021, "The First Seven" Runway Show, Spring Studio, New York/ USA
2020, "Art Teleported" Runway Show, 1519 Decatur Street Presented by CICA Museum, New York/ USA
2019, "Man in the Corner", MU Project, New York/ USA
2018, " '47 Redesign " Runway Show, The Mezzanine, New York/ USA’47 Redesign Competition Top 4 Designer_______2018

MIXED EXHIBITIONS:
2021, "It’s Time to Reduce the Backlog", Latitude Gallery, with Berfin Ataman,Yuxuan An,Ye Cheng,Shuang cai,Tinglan Huang,Jing Liu, L.Morgan Kelley,Joss Liao,Mellow Meadow,Yuxiao Ran,Cherrie Yu,Xuecan Ye,Fengyi Zhu,Ellen Bjerborn,Sizuo Chen,Yangcheng Guo,Huanzhe Hu,Yue Liu,Yuqing Lin,Tiantian Ma,Alexander Si,Zhenfei Sun,Tinwai Wong,Jingyan Weng,Leilei Xia,Cong Yu,Yinglin Zhou,Mengyao Zhang,Feiyang Zhang, New York/ USA
2019, "Slow Design", 415 Broadway, with AMIS ZHOU, DIANE BARTHELEMY, BINGYAO CHENG, DECHENG CUI, SHENGJIE DAI, YENAN FENG, DANDI GU, XUEQI HE, NANDAN HE, EMMA HUANG, YAO HUANG, ANG LI, WEINA LI, FANGYU LIU, YONGQI LIU, JIAYU SHEN, YUAN XU, TANG YIQI, JINGYI YUE, LIYING ZHANG, MENGYAO ZHANG, New York/ USA

AWARDS:
2018, ’47 Redesign Competition Top 4 Designer, New York/ USA

PRESS APPEARANCES:
Media:

China’s Fashion Progressives: 8 Brands Hitting Society’s Core Notes – SupaChina-
https://supchina.com/2020/08/12/chinas-fashion-pro
gressives-8-brands-hitting-societys-core-notes/
The Temper Fact Checker: Artist Provocateur Xiaowu Zheng Presents His 头七 - Temper Magazine-
https://chinatemper.com/the-temper-fact-checker/xi
aowu-zheng-seven
Artist Provocateur Xiaowu Zheng Resuscicates The De(Con)Struction of Convention - Temper Magazine-
https://chinatemper.com/contemporary-chinese-art/a
rtist-provocateur-xiaowu-zheng
’47 & Pratt Institute Highlight Rising Designers with Redesign Fashion Show – Highsnobiety-
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/47-redesign-fashion
-show-2018/#slide-16
Resuscitating Deadstock - Office Magazine-
http://officemagazine.net/resuscitating-deadstock

Editorial Publications:

'Blind Love' Editorial for Sicky Magazine-
https://sickymag.com/blind-love/
'Monde Sensorial' - 2020 April for Pap Magazine-
https://www.pap-magazine.com/monde-sensorial
'Lost Planet' - 2020 April Volume 1 Cover Story for Féroce Magazine-
https://www.ferocemagazine.com/issues/2020/3/30/ap
ril-vol-1-2020
‘Genderless’ - 2019 December Volume 1 Cover Story for Féroce Magazine
https://www.ferocemagazine.com/issues/2019/12/3/de
c-vol-1-2019
'Concoction' - A KALTBLUT Exclusive Editorial-
https://www.kaltblut-magazine.com/concoction-by-yi
tian-zhang/
'Impulsion' Editorial for Sicky Magazine-
https://sickymag.com/impulsion/

LANGUAGE SKILLS:
Chinese, Native
English, Native

WEB SITE:
https://www.xiaowuzheng.net

PORTFOLIO URL:
https://www.xiaowuzheng.net

REGISTRATION DATE:
2021-12-22 23:33:12

COUNTRY/REGION:
United States of America

ACCOUNT TYPE:
Young



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