Zhan Shu's Dryly Comic Sculptures and Paintings Probe Urban Burnout
London-based artist Zhan Shu (born 1999 in China) creates sculpture and painting that treat everyday objects—trees, lambs, ballet shoes, neckties, office-chair wheels—as witnesses to urban fatigue. Her work humorously examines how cities assign functions to both people and nature, asking whether trees deserve a salary for their unpaid labor. Key works include 'Trees Deserve a Salary' (2023) and the ongoing 'Dear Little Lamb' series (2026). Shu's practice focuses on the in-between states of exhaustion, obedience, and quiet rebellion, using dry comedy to reveal the emotional toll of modern life.
Key facts
- Zhan Shu was born in China in 1999 and is now based in London.
- She makes sculpture and painting that treat everyday objects as suspect, witness, and occasional victim.
- Her work features trees, lambs, ballet shoes, neckties, and office-chair wheels.
- The work 'Trees Deserve a Salary' (2023) questions whether urban trees are exploited as unpaid city staff.
- The ongoing project 'Dear Little Lamb' (2026) includes oil paintings with teardrop rhinestones.
- Shu's humor is described as dry, closer to a meme saved at 2 a.m. or bleak slapstick.
- Her sculptures and paintings stage natural forms with office objects in scenes that feel slightly wrong.
- The article notes Shu's work studies systems that organize both bodies and plants, alert to moments those systems slip.
Entities
Artists
- Zhan Shu
Institutions
- Art Plugged
Locations
- London
- United Kingdom
- China