Biru ZHAO — Transforming Stone into Gold: A Contemporary Art Exhibition in Paris
LooLooLook Gallery, Paris 1st | Solo Exhibition · September 10 – October 10, 2026
A Material, a Memory, a Transformation
Stone holds the memory of time.
Ink holds its movement.
With Transforming Stone into Gold, Biru ZHAO continues a practice developed over more than twenty years, exploring ink, materiality, and transformation.
Within the space of LooLooLook Gallery, her works enter into dialogue with the historic architecture of the gallery: stone walls, exposed fragments, wood, and natural light. The gallery itself becomes part of the material language of the exhibition.
The ink paintings seem to evoke branching forms, landscapes, traces, or forms in the process of becoming. Alongside them, fragments of stone, branches, sculptural elements, and suspended forms extend the pictorial gesture into space.
Here, stone is not simply a material. It becomes memory.
Gold is not simply a colour. It becomes transformation.
Between stillness and movement, disappearance and emergence, Biru ZHAO develops a visual language in which ink seems to search for what remains when form begins to dissolve.
Transforming Stone into Gold
The title of the exhibition can be understood as a metaphor for the artist’s practice.
Transforming stone into gold is not simply a matter of changing a material.
It is about changing the way we look at it.
An ordinary stone can become a fragment of a landscape.
A trace can become a memory.
A mark of ink can become a space.
A found object can become a work of art.
Transformation therefore takes place as much within the material as within the gaze.
Perhaps this is where the heart of the exhibition lies: in that fragile moment when something ceases to be simply what it was and begins to become something else.
Ink as a Living Material
For Biru ZHAO, ink is not limited to the traditional gesture of the brush.
It flows, diffuses, thickens, fragments. It reveals areas of density and silence, lines that sometimes resemble roots, branches, or landscapes seen from an invisible depth.
The works presented in this exhibition reveal a tension between control and accident, construction and erasure.
Some compositions seem to capture a landscape in the process of forming. Others appear, on the contrary, to reveal the traces of a landscape that has already disappeared.
This movement is essential to the artist’s practice: to make something appear without revealing everything.
From Painting to Material
The exhibition gradually moves beyond the boundaries of painting.
Mineral fragments, small sculptures, and natural elements placed throughout the space extend Biru ZHAO’s artistic research. Material leaves the surface of the paper and enters physical space.
Stone then becomes a partner to the pictorial gesture.
It carries its own marks: layers, fractures, roughness, colours, and traces of time. The artist does not seek to erase these traces, but rather to bring them into dialogue with her own visual language.
The result is an exhibition in which the ancient materiality of the place and the contemporary materiality of the works seem to share the same memory.
An Exhibition Shaped by Its Setting
LooLooLook Gallery occupies a Parisian space marked by historic materials and architecture that preserves traces of its past.
Biru ZHAO does not seek to neutralise this environment.
On the contrary, the works are installed in a way that allows the stone, the irregularities of the walls, the windows, and the natural light to remain visible.
The visitor therefore never looks at a work in isolation.
They look at a work within a place, one material within another, a present crossed by several layers of time.
This relationship between artwork and architecture is particularly visible in the large ink compositions installed against the stone walls, as well as in the series of small circular fragments that crosses the space like a silent line.
ENCRE II — Twenty Years of Research Gathered in a Book
Presented alongside the exhibition, Encre II is the new edition of the book devoted to Biru ZHAO’s artistic practice.
The book accompanies the exhibition as an object of memory and transmission. It brings together a selection of works and traces an artistic journey shaped by twenty years of research into ink, materiality, and time.
More than an exhibition catalogue, Encre II offers an entry into the artist’s world: her different series, artistic developments, research, and the questions that run through her practice.
The book includes an opening text, a presentation of the artist’s approach, a selection of works from different series, as well as a conversation between Biru ZHAO and the poet Alain a.
Looking at Ink Differently
This is also one of the invitations of the book: to take the time to observe what transforms within ink, between trace and silence, gesture and material.
Encre II is available at the gallery throughout the exhibition.
MEET THE ARTIST & BOOK SIGNING
Biru ZHAO × Alain a
Saturday, October 3, 2026 · 3 PM
To celebrate the publication of Encre II, LooLooLook Gallery invites you to a conversation with Biru ZHAO, in dialogue with the poet Alain A.
The conversation will explore her artistic journey, ink, materiality, transformation, and the twenty years of research that have led to this new publication.
The conversation will be followed by a book signing of Encre II.
Saturday, October 3, 2026 · 3 PM
LooLooLook Gallery
12 rue de la Sourdière, Paris 1st
Free admission · Limited places
Practical Information & Access
Presented at LooLooLook Gallery, a contemporary art gallery located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris — your destination for contemporary art in central Paris.
Transforming Stone into Gold — Biru ZHAO
Dates: September 10 – October 10, 2026
Meet the Artist & Book Signing:
Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 3 PM, with Biru ZHAO and Alain a.
Book: Encre II
Address:
12 rue de la Sourdière, 75001 Paris
Metro: Tuileries / Pyramides
Admission: Free
Press & Curatorial Resources
Download the complete file to dive deeper into the artist's process:
FAQ — Art Exhibition in Paris 1st
Q: Who is Biru ZHAO?
Biru ZHAO is a contemporary artist whose practice explores ink, materiality, time, and transformation. Her work brings together painting, mineral fragments, and natural elements, situated between the tradition of ink and contemporary experimentation.
Q: Where can I see the exhibition Transforming Stone into Gold?
The exhibition is presented at LooLooLook Gallery, 12 rue de la Sourdière, 75001 Paris, from September 10 to October 10, 2026.
Q: When is the meeting with Biru ZHAO?
The meeting with Biru ZHAO and the poet Alain A. will take place on Saturday, October 3, 2026, at 3 PM at LooLooLook Gallery. It will be followed by a book signing of Encre II.
Q: What is Encre II?
Encre II is an art book devoted to Biru ZHAO. It accompanies the exhibition Transforming Stone into Gold and looks back over twenty years of artistic research into ink, materiality, and transformation.
Q: What are the main themes of the exhibition?
The exhibition explores ink, stone, memory, time, transformation, traces, and the relationship between materiality and landscape.
Q: Can I purchase Encre II?
Yes. Encre II is presented and available at LooLooLook Gallery throughout the exhibition.
Q: Where can I find an art gallery near the Louvre?
Located near the Louvre Museum, the Tuileries Garden, and Rue Saint-Honoré, LooLooLook Gallery offers an intimate contemporary art experience in the heart of Paris.
At 12 rue de la Sourdière, visitors can discover international contemporary artists in a welcoming space that encourages a closer encounter with the artworks.