Zhang Hongtu 2009-10-31
Zhang Hongtu's Studio,
Brooklyn, New York
“The show [‘Contemporaries Oil Painting Exhibition’, Beijing National Art Museum, 1980] was a success, because it was the first time people experienced non-Chairman, Mao non-political imagery. Someone even wrote a poem for my painting [and published it in the Beijing Evening News]—and this led to other job opportunities. After that point, many people knew my name and work and tried to hire me. We didn’t have the word ‘hire’ at the time. It was an opportunity to ‘transfer’ me from an old job to new. I was happy about these other opportunities.”
Biography:
Zhang Hongtu (b. 1943, Pingliang, Gansu Province) is a New York-based artist.
Zhang studied at the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts in Beijing and moved to New York in 1982, where he helped build a community for immigrant Chinese artists through the Chinese United Overseas Artists Association in 1987.
Some of Zhang’s works use Mao's image to reference communist China, whilst other works, like his repainted shan-shui projects combine Chinese and Western imagery and technique. His most recent works focus on the relationship between nature and the human condition. Zhang has exhibited extensively, with shows at the Princeton University Art Museum, the Guangzhou Triennial, the Havana Biennial, PS1 New York, and the New Museum in New York.
