Earlier this year, Miranda Fengyuan Zhang’s latest exhibition at CLEARING New York featured five cotton textile artworks from 2024 which Artforum dubbed as ‘cool and aloof, serious and unsentimental.’ Zhang’s work utilises weaving and knitting to explore ideas around painting and image making. 

Based in Manhattan - she was born in Shanghai and graduated with a BFA from Studio Art, New York University in 2016 - where she has a loom in her studio, Zhang’s work revolves around her personal recollections, her inner and outer worlds. She creates dialogues via diverse sources, including 20th century abstraction and Bach, Chinese ink paintings and Wang Wei. She has shown her work in galleries globally, including at Massimo de Carlo in London and Capsule Shanghai in Shanghai whilst being the recipient of the La Maison de l'Art Contemporain residency in Asilah, Morocco and the Arquetopia Foundation in Oaxaca, Mexico.

1. Do you have an early memory that you think connects to your creativity now?

I didn’t grow up with a background in art, but of course, as a Chinese kid, you’re expected to learn piano and ballet from a young age—often without really understanding what you’re doing. I used to hate going to those classes. The lack of passion turned me into a rebel. Maybe that act of rebelling—working against what was expected—was a form of creativity in itself at the time.

2. What is the biggest misconception about weaving?

I wouldn’t say it’s a misconception, but rather a lack of awareness. Weaving is a technique with a very long history. In our modern age, we’re surrounded by finished products without much thought about how they’re made. When artists use weaving in their work, people tend to associate it with historical or traditional notions. But do we really know what weaving is today? And what could it become in contemporary contexts? For me, it’s simply a tool—like making films or building sculptures. I’m interested in whether there’s still room to expand ideas within this heavily labeled form. Is there a way to detach from it and neutralise it?

3. How would you define beauty?

Beauty is an illusion.

4. Whose work has been the biggest influence on you to date?

Rosemarie Trockel and Mike Kelley.

5. What is art?

That’s too big a question. I’ll let you know if I ever find the answer in my lifetime.

Miranda Fengyuan Zhang wearing the Driver Moccasin in Bruciato leather snake effect captured in New York by Maddy Rotman, May 2025.