Zhang Gong 張 弓 b. 1959
Born in Beijing, China, in 1959, Zhang Gong graduated with an MFA from the Central Academy of Arts and Design in 1993. He is currently a Professor at the Information Department of Art and Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
As early in the 1990s, his paintings gained recognition from the Chinese contemporary art world, and were exhibited at the “Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition - From Realism to Post-Modernism” (Belgium, 1995), “China!” (Kunstmuseum, Germany, 1996), “8+8-1: Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists”, touring exhibition across Europe (1997). Since his first major solo exhibition in Hong Kong in 1994, he has held over 10 solo exhibitions in New York, Tokyo, Beijing, etc. His works are collected by important museums and organizations including Uli Sigg Collection and Asia Society Contemporary Art Collection.
Zhang Gong is also one of the pioneers in making hand-painted animated films in China. From 1999 to 2009, he produced five independent animated films, such as "Ms Red" (2009), "Black Pig, White Pig" (2005), "Trees" (2003), which were highly praised in many international animation festivals in Europe and Asia, such as Annecy International Animated Film Festival, France, Brussels Animation Films Festival, Belgium, London International Animation Festival, and Cinémathèque Québécoise, Montreal.
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Elements of Love 《情人要素》, 1993
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No Direction 《失去了前進方向》, 1994
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Light of God 《英神之光》, 1996
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Attacking Big Bird 《鷹擊長空》, 1996
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Beijing No.2 《北京城二號》, 2010
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Beijing No.1 《北京城一號》, 2010
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The Family of Miss Panda 《潘大姐一家》, 2011
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Miss Panda 《潘大小姐》, 2011
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Miss Panda on Street 《街頭的潘大姐》, 2011
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The Family of Xiao Tang 《小唐一家》, 2011
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Beijing Grows Cuke 《北京長出了小黃瓜》, 2012
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Meeting at Café No.3 《相約咖啡館 3》, 2012
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The Rem Koolhaas on the Third Ring Road 《三環路的庫哈斯》, 2012
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Blues Disco No. 2 《藍調迪廳 2》, 2012
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Imitation of Frank Gehry in Beijing 《弗蘭克·蓋瑞,北京山寨》, 2012
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Ms Red on Sofa 《沙發上的紅姐》, 2012
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Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck at War 《米老鼠大戰唐老鴨 》, 2013
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Café in Yellow and Red 《咖啡館黃紅》, 2013
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Café in Grey and Blue 《咖啡館灰藍》, 2013
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Beijing No.5 《北京城五號》, 2014
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Beijing No.3 《北京城三號》, 2014
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Beijing No.4 《北京城四號》, 2014
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Front Gate Tower of Beijing City 《北京城前門樓》, 2015
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Metropolis No.2 《大都會二號》, 2015
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Metropolis No.1 《大都會一號》, 2015
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Night is Gone 2 《夜遠去 2》, 2015
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Metropolis No.4 《大都會四號》, 2015
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Hallelujah (Series Five) 《哈利路亞系列五》, 2015
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Hallelujah (Series Five) 《哈利路亞系列五》, 2015
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Kids, Don't be Afraid 4《小孩不怕 4》, 2016
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Speechless Dinosaur 《不會說話的恐龍》, 2016
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Metropolis No.6 《大都會六號》, 2016
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Metropolis No.5 《大都會五號》, 2016
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Good Promise 《美好承諾》, 2017
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Why Can't a Panda Become an Elephant? 《熊貓為什麼不能變成大象?》, 2017
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Mr. Godot Will Definitely Come Tomorrow 《戈多先生明天一定來》, 2017
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Wandering 2 《遊蕩 2》, 2017
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Meditating Dharma 《修佛》, 2017
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Sentimental Garden 《感傷的花園》, 2018
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Treasure of August 《八月的寶貝》, 2018
1992-1999 • SURREALISTIC PAINTINGS
From 1992 until 1999, Zhang Gong’s paintings carried surrealistic implications, often depicting a young boy against an industrial backdrop. Zhang’s use of bright, bold colors and humorous metaphorical narrative style, illustrates his distinct personal style and expresses his concern for the transformation of Chinese society.
Left: Elements of Love | 1993 | Oil on canvas | 100x80.5cm
Middle: The Brave Tom | 1995 | Oil on canvas | 193.5x130cm
Right: Family Scene | 1992 | Oil on canvas | 227x181cm
Left: Happy Childhood | 1995 | Oil on canvas | 112x145cm
Right: Computer Virus No.4 | 1996 | Oil on canvas | 182x227cm
1999-2009 • DEVOTION TO ANIMATED FILMS
1999-2009 was the decade when Zhang Gong devoted his artistry to hand-painted animated films. At the time, Zhang found that he had reached the limitations of painting, and turned to animated film because it was more effective in delivering messages to mass audiences. Over the span of 10 years, Zhang created five hand-painted animated films, which were highly praised in animation festivals held in Europe and Japan: Trees (2003), The Bird (2004), Black Pig, White Pig (2005), The Perturbation of Mind (2006) and Miss Red (2009).
2007 • RELOCATION OF CARTOON CHARACTERS IN INNOVATIVE BACKGROUND SETTINGS
In 2007, Zhang Gong resumed his career in painting, putting cartoon characters in recreated settings, opening to the audience different scenes that are both familiar and unprecedented. In some cases, he also applies classic masterpieces from the history of Western art in the creation of this series and gives such masterpieces new interpretations. Cartoon characters applied include: Disney cartoons, Mickey Mouse, The Simpsons, Hello Kitty, etc., and animated cartoon characters created by Zhang Gong such as Ms Red and Ms Panda.
The Birth of Venus | 2007 | Acrylic on canvas | 100x190cm
Blue Disco 3 | 2011 | Acrylic on canvas | 60x75cm
Maja | 2008 | Acrylic on canvas | 112x145cm
Confrontation | 2009 | Acrylic on canvas | 120x220cm
2010 • METROPOLIS SERIES – BEIJING AND NEW YORK
In 2010, Zhang began to paint his Metropolis series, focusing on Beijing and New York as his subjects. After spending his childhood in Beijing, the modernization and industrialization of the city raised deep concerns for the artist. In the same year, Zhang Gong had his first visit to New York City where he was greatly impressed by the unique cityscape, and further considered the implications of urban life. The Metropolis series conveys Zhang’s reflections on history, culture and the contradictions of city life, in which civilization and material wealth are exciting, yet the crowded, fast-paced and intense environment creates anxiety and social barriers. In his paintings, Zhang uses cartoon characters as a metaphor for people in reality.
Harmony Enters Beijing | 2011 | Acrylic on canvas | 75x60cm
Tower of Babel | 2011 | Acrylic on canvas | 112x145cm
New York Morning | 2011 | Acrylic on canvas | 54x65cm
2017-2018 • GARDEN OF EDEN SERIES
In his recent series, Zhang exercises his unbound imagination through allegorical narrative style. He often uses animals and plants to symbolize people facing society’s rapid transformation and religious symbols appear frequently. While the façade of his works are peaceful, playful and vivid in color, Zhang alludes to the doubts and anxieties that are hidden beneath, alluding to the reality of life.
Sentimental Garden | 2018 | Acrylic on canvas | 140×344cm
Mr. Godot Will Definitely Come Tomorrow | 2017 | Acrylic on canvas | 95×110cm
Zhang Gong’s Beijing No. 3 represents every aspect of Beijing in detail, such as the bustling cityscape, the streets teeming with traffic, the sprawling blocks of buildings, and the monumental archways dismantled by large machine tools. Although the artist did not represent the cityscape in a photorealistic way, the viewers who are vaguely familiar with this city can still sense the endemic ambience of Beijing. Through this work, Zhang attempted more to convey his subjective feelings about the space than to reflect the general appearance of the city. This work incorporates not only the realities of Beijing but also the artist’s memories, feelings and wishes about the place where he spent his childhood. Despite the clamor and crowdedness of the city, we can still see the bright daylight shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow if we look up at the sky.
Excerpt from Zhang Gong: A Personal Posture in the City, by Sun Xiao-tung, 2014
Zhang Gong has been obsessed with artistic creations concerning urban cities.Zhang delineates architectures, streets, traffics, characters and stories happened in the cities with an unusual calmness. When we read the pictures in depth, it is very interesting to realize that the cities portrayed by the artist are very familiar yet particularly unfamiliar, whether or not it is Beijing, a place that I know very well, or any other cosmopolitan cities in the world…Perhaps the artist is not interested in an accurate drawing but the juxtapositional impressions of the city. This could be considered as a concentrated portraiture of the city.
Liu Ye, Artist, 2014
Zhang Gong’s attention to the details is connate. The whole pictures of his works are filled with imperturbable details. These details are like self-replicating under a Zhang Gong’s style of reasoning to represent a big world: it seems that we could see every single pieces of brick as if we are able to grasp the textures of the entire city. We crawl from one building to another forever without an end. In the pictures that accommodated thousands of constituents, we may come to realize that there is no redundant detail. It seems that we have left behind our footprints in the pictures when we travel through.
Excerpt from The Innumerable Details : Zhang Gong’s paintings, Shao Fan, 2014
1959 |
Born in Beijing, China |
1993 |
Obtained Master of Fine Arts from Central Academy of Arts and Design |
Present |
Professor of the Department of Information Art & Design at Tsinghua University, Beijing |
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 |
Beyond Description, Beyond Boundary - Paintings of Zhang Gong, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China |
2018 |
Mushroom Mushroom: Works by Zhang Gong, Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China |
2016 |
The Watcher, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, USA |
2014 |
A Tale of Metropolis, Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China |
2012 |
Where We Go, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, USA Castle in the Sky, Eastation Gallery, Beijing, China |
2011 |
Beijing · New York, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, USA |
2010 |
Miss Panda, Eli Klein Fine Art, New York, USA |
2008 |
The Birth of Miss Panda, Gallery Artside, Beijing, China |
2000 |
Zhang Gong, Palace Ridge Gallery, Tokyo, Japan |
1996 |
A Boy with an Opened Heart, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China |
1994 |
Ideals and Idols of Beijing, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong, China |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 |
The Unscene, Klein Sun Gallery, New York, USA |
2017 |
Forms and Effects: Ukiyo-e to Anime, Krege Foundation Gallery, Ramapo College, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA |
2013 |
Art Southampton, New York, USA Ying, Ying Space, Beijing, China |
2011 |
Scenes from Within: Contemporary Art from China, Blackbridge Hall Gallery, Georgia College, Milledgeville, USA |
2008 |
Hypallage, the Pass Modern Mode of Chinese Contemporary Art, The OCT Art & Design Gallery, Shenzhen, China |
2006 |
Fiction Love, MOCA Shanghai, China Fiction Love, Bund 18 Creative Center, Shanghai, China Fiction Love—Ultra New Vision in Contemporary Art, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore |
2001 |
New Works Exhibition of Yue Minjun and Zhang Gong, The CourtYard Gallery, Beijing, China |
1998 |
Exhibition of Chinese Artists, Gallery Marash, the Netherlands |
1997 |
8+8-1: Selected Paintings by 15 Contemporary Artists, Europe |
1996 |
China!, Kunstmuseum, Bonn, Germany |
1995 |
New Anecdotes of Social Talk, A Three-Man Show by Zhang Gong, Hong Hao and Liu Ye, Beijing International Art Palace Gallery, Beijing, China Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting Exhibition - From Realism to Post-Modernism, Galerie Theoremes, Brussels, Belgium |
1993 |
Oil Paintings by Painters of China, Russia and Switzerland, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong |
FILMOGRAPHY
2009 Ms Red
Delta Edges: The Pearl River Delta Indie-Animation Screening Tour, Hong Kong, 2013
The 3rd Shadows Festival, Paris, France, 2010
The 6th INDPANDA International Short Films Festival, Hong Kong, 2010
CIFVF, Bookshop Café of Wallflower Press, London, UK, 2010
The 29th Brussels Animation Films Festival, Brussels, Belgium 2010
The 3rd Chongqing Independent Film and Video Festival, Chongqing, China, 2009
The 4th Beijing Independent Film Festival, Beijing, China, 2009
2006 The Perturbance of Mind
Short Film Festival, Japan, 2008
Official Panorama, the 15th Anima Mundi: International Animation Festival, Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2007
2005 Black Pig White Pig
Festival International du Film d'Animation d'Annecy, France, 2017
The 2nd Chongqing Independent Film and Video Festival, Chongqing, China, 2008
Cinémathèque Québécoise, showing of Chinese animated films, Montreal, Canada, 2008
Without Borders Film Festival, Rome, Italy, 2008
The 2nd Beijing Independent Film Festival, Beijing, China, 2007
The 8th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival, USA, 2007
London International Animation Festival, Curzon Cinema, London, UK, 2006
The 14th International Animation Festival of Brazil ANIMA MUNDI, Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2006
Melbourne International Animation Festival and Australian International Animation Festival, Melbourne, Australia, 2006
Official Panorama, The 30th Annecy Festival, France, 2006
The 11th Lyon Asian Film Festival, France, 2005
2004 The Bird
Without Borders Film Festival, Rome, Italy, 2008
TINDIRINDIS 2005 International Animated Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2005
The 11th International Short Film Festival in Drama, Athens, Greece, 2005
Short Film Festival, Japan, 2005
The 21st International Short Film Festival, Hamburg, Germany, 2005
The 24th ANIMA - Brussels Festival of Cartoon and Animated Films, Brussels, Belgium 2004
Awarded the 1st Public Award for the Best Short Film and Jury Award for the Best Short Film,
The 10th Asian Film Culture Festival, Lyon, France, 2004
Nominated for the Best Chinese Animated Film, Film Hua Biao Awards, China, 2004
Awarded in the 3rd CTVA Academy Awards, China, 2004
2003 Trees
TINDIRINDIS 2005 International Animated Film Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2005
Short Film Festival, Japan, 2005
Awarded the 2nd Public Award for Best Short Film, The 10th Asian Film and Culture Festival, Lyon, France, 2004
Awarded the 3rd CTVA Academy Awards, China, 2004
Awarded the Most Popular Film and Nominated for Best Produced Film, The 3rd Animation Academy Awards, Animation School of Beijing Film Academy, China, 2003
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The Cornerstone
An Exhibition Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Kwai Fung 14 Jun - 31 Aug 2021 -
Beyond Description, Beyond Boundary - Paintings of Zhang Gong
Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, G/F, 20 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong 22 Mar - 27 Apr 2019 -
A Tale of Metropolis - Solo Exhibition of Zhang Gong
Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, G/F, 20 Ice House Street, Central, Hong Kong 5 - 31 Dec 2014Solo Exhibition of Zhang GongRead more