BOOKSZhou Yilun: 23%

The Start Museum preparatory team  presents “Genealogy Study of Artists No.3: Zhou Yilun 23%”, from 23 March 2019 to 10 May 2019. As the third project in the series, it shows the possibilities the artist seeks and the greater value he creates in the “negative shape”. Conversations between the Start Museum research team and the artist, exhibition sites, selected works and a wealth of research are included in the publication.

“二割三分” (にわりさんぷん/Niwari Sanpun), which literally means 23% in Japanese) is a Japanese jargon used in the process of sake making. For the purpose of refining quality, rice will be polished to 23% of its original volume before vintage. In Japanese, “割” and “分” are both measure words, “二割” means 20%, and “三分” means 3%. However, “割” and “分” are both verbs meaning cutting in Chinese (same characters as in Japanese). When the artist names this exhibition as “二割三分”, the mis-reading of it in Chinese delivers the exact concept of the new works — by cutting and restructuring his previous paintings,  the “quintessence” in his eyes are create.