Ruolan Zhang

Ruolan focuses on things themselves, resisting categorization. Her practice explores material agency, seeking to reveal the tension between anthropocentric codification and the resistance of the material world. She is particularly drawn to the vitality that emerges when two distinct materials converge, observing how they interact and activate space and memory. Moving fluidly across painting, drawing, print, and installation, her work challenges existing meanings and invites viewers to reconsider the poetic agency of the material world.

Ruolan’s approach to printmaking extends her interest in material agency. Rather than treating prints as fixed images, she explores the imprint as a trace—both an absence and a presence. Her monotype works capture fleeting moments, blurring the boundary between control and unpredictability. The layered textures and subtle distortions reflect the tensions between permanence and ephemerality, inviting viewers to engage with the materiality of the printed surface as an active, evolving space.