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Unlike two-dimensional works, a sculpture can never be taken in at a single glance: it must be viewed from multiple angles in order to be understood. Sculpture also possesses a physical presence and a degree of abstraction. For Baoyang Zhao (1992), this makes it the ideal medium for exploring themes such as corporeality, presence and the sense of self.
I Borrowed a Home (2025) presents five sculptures that move between figuration and abstraction. A recognizable form sometimes emerges – that of an animal, for example – but as the perspective shifts, the recognition fades. This mutability reflects how Zhao experiences his own sense of self: as something fleeting and unstable. Growing up in Communist China, where the collective took precedence and where he lived at a boarding school without private space, hampered the development of a sense of self. He did not have a home to retreat to. And now, as a migrant in Europe, Zhao experiences how his body is continually subjected to systems beyond himself, such as border control.
Zhao works intuitively. From large blocks of foam, he cuts forms that he dismantles again as soon as they begin to appear too harmonious. Layers of natural resin and pigment create soft, matt colours, giving the sculptures a tangible skin. The forms are not literal references to his themes, but rather embody the tension between instability and the longing for a stable foundation. I Borrowed a Home thus becomes a fragile landscape of fragments, in which the possibility of a home – however temporary – becomes briefly palpable.
Written by Sarah van Binsbergen