August 24, 2013, Beijing. The review exhibition of the China Landscape Project of The Metamorphosis Series – The Eggs, created by artist Shi Shaoping, opens at the Today Art Museum. The 3,000 solid ceramic eggs made by the artist in Jing De Zhen in 2012, weigh a cumulative 48 tons and occupy the entirety of Hall 2. The extraordinary journey of Shi Shaoping and his eggs, is narrated by documentation, photography, and video. 

Shi Shaoping is constantly trying to develop a new art style of his own. The focus of his Metamorphosis Series is to interpret the macro-theme – the essence of life, at a micro level. The beginning of this series is merely on canvas. When the frog skin is brought in, the artist then introduces the concept of solid ceramic. Shi Shaoping is always setting obstacles for himself, whether consciously or unconsciously. He has never stopped looking for a stronger language through the physical and mental experiences gained during his process of thinking to practice. 

The year 2012 was a milestone for the metamorphosis of Shi Shaoping’s art. He stayed in Jing De Zhen for a whole year, a time during which he became deeply involved with local porcelain experts, factory owners, and laborers. Though Shi experienced thousands of failed experiments, the idea of giving up was nonexistent. He succeeded in producing a total of 3,000 solid ceramics. Absurdity wins. When these creatures debuted during the ShContemporary 2012, many were deeply impressed, but few thought to figure out what the artist had been through. No one knew that it is just the start of the project that the artist had already bore in mind at the moment of creation – to send the eggs back to where they came from- nature.  

Since then, Shi Shaoping has been traveling the country, going to Xinjiang, Gansu, Guangxi, Hainan to choose the deposit site. The finalized project covers the rugged Beihai coast in Guangxi Province, Yardang landform, the Black Gobi sand dunes of Dunhuan, to the Gannan grassland. A camera team joined by photographers from China and abroad photographed and videotaped the entire process, including transportation, loading/unloading, installation, dismantling, and some behind-the-scenes. 

Exhibition scene 1

Exhibition scene 2

Exhibition scene 3

If we say the idea of making these solid ceramic eggs is absurd, placing all of them in some of China's most desolate regions can be called insane. The project transported these eggs of 48-tons with two large trucks for 12,000 kilometers, loading and unloading at least 5 times, installing, dismantling, photographing, and videotaping the process required more than 200 hours. The rising tide, sand storms, rain, high elevation, fatigue, and stress made it an arduous journey for everyone. We would rather call it a movement than a project, one under the name of life, dominated by the nature. 

In their finality, these nature-beaten eggs lay silently on the floor of the exhibition hall. Photographs and videos tell their story.