Zheng Chongbin 2011-04-07
Zheng Chongbin's Studio, San Francisco
“Once, when our professor Lu Yanshao was giving a demonstration, he fell asleep. His brush was resting on a piece of paper. A black ink spot started growing. We didn’t want to speak up, but the spot was getting so big that we had to wake him. He opened his eyes, saw the large black dot and laughed. He then began to paint around the ink spot. Later, recalling this scene, I realized that the flexibility of traditional techniques lies in this kind of resourcefulness and adaptability. It also made me realize the importance of traditional techniques. I think this type of training is important; the application of this facet of ink painting is especially important.”
Biography:
Zheng Chongbin (b.1961, Shanghai) is an artist who lives and works in both California and Shanghai.
In 1984, Zheng Chongbin graduated from the Chinese painting department of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now the China Academy of Fine Arts), and became a teacher at the Academy. His first solo exhibition was held at the Shanghai Art Museum in 1988. The following year, he received the San Francisco Art Institute’s first international fellowship. By 1991, he had graduated from the institute with an M.F.A.
Zheng has taken part in many recent group exhibitions, including ‘From Chinese Ink to Abstraction’ (Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, 1999); ‘The Third Chengdu Biennale’ (Chengdu, 2007); and ‘Shanghai’ (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, 2010). He has also held solo exhibitions, such as ‘Emergent’ (Valentine Willie Fine Arts, Singapore, 2010); ‘White Ink’ (Chinese Culture Foundation, San Francisco, 2011）and ‘Xuan, Etc.’ (Shanghai Gallery of Art, 2011).
