Bio
Hong Zhang is a Chinese-born artist whose work combines traditional skills with contemporary themes and idea. She received her BFA in Chinese painting from the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1994, moving to the United States in 1996. After completing her MFA at the University of California, Davis in 2004, she moved to Lawrence, Kansas, where she currently lives and works.
Zhang’s work focuses on cultural identity and the connections shared with her family, and draws from experiences in her native China as well as the United States. Recent ink and charcoal drawings are based around the idea of hair, and explore her identity as a woman, a sister and a Chinese. Zhang uses long, black disembodied hair as a metaphor for life force, sexual energy, growth, and identity.
Born and raised in China, Hong grew up in an academic environment. Both her parents are retired art professors and her two sisters are also painters. When she was 15, Hong and her twin-sister Bo won the national competition to attend the high school attached to the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. From there, she began her professional art training. In 1994, Hong received B.F.A. in Chinese Ink Painting from CAFA in Beijing, M.A. from CSU Sacramento in 2002 and M.F.A. from University of California, Davis in 2004. Hong currently lives and works in Lawrence, Kansas. In spring of 2015, she starts working with Haw Contemporary Gallery in Kansas City.
Zhang's experience has been recognized with a Skowhegan Artist Residency Full Scholarship ( New York 2003 ) a Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship ( New York 2004 ) Pollock Krasner Foundation grant (New York 2006 ) and Scuola Internazionale di Grafica artist residency in Venice, Italy funded by APT ( Artist Pension Trust 2015) Hong has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at venues including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery ( Washington DC ) Asia Society Texas Center ( Houston, TX ) Japanese American National Museum ( Los Angeles, CA ) The White Rabbit Gallery ( Sydney, Australia ) The Museum of Contemporary Art Norway ( Oslo, Norway ) Centraal Museum ( Utrecht, Holland ) The 3rd Chengdu Biennale and The 9th Shanghai Biennale ( China ) Ink Studio ( Beijing ) Galerie Steph ( Singapore ) Sotheby's ( Hong Kong ) The Portland Museum of Art ( ME ) The Center for Contemporary Art Sacramento, San Francisco Chinese Culture Center, Lawrence Arts Center, Whitespace (Atlanta ) BRIC Rotunda Gallery ( Brooklyn ) UCDavis Nelson Gallery and CSUSacramento Library Gallery. Her work can be found in many public and private collections such as Sylvain Levy/ DSL Collection ( Paris ) The White Rabbit Collection of Contemporary Chinese Art ( Sydney ) The Ministry of Culture of China ( Beijing ) The Origo Collection of Contemporary Ink Art ( Zurich ) Spencer Museum of Art ( Lawrence, KS ) and Ulrich Art Museum ( Wichita, KS )
Solo Exhibitions
2018 Tornado Warning, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO
2015 The Innocence of Incense, SG Gallery, Venice, Italy
2015 Making Waves, Haw Contemporary, Kansas City, MO
2014 Currents: Flow, Fall, Calm, Curl, Galerie Steph, Singapore
2012 Haywire, Lawrence Arts Center, KS
2008 Hong Chun Zhang, Byron Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2005 Hair Power, Kansas Union Gallery, University of Kansas
2002 Twin Spirits, Witt Gallery, California State University, Sacramento
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 Origo Collection on Contemporary Ink Art, Sotheby’s Hong Kong
2016 Art on Paper, Klein Sun Gallery, New York
2016 Human Hair in Fashion and Art, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands
2014 Ink and the Body, Ink Studio, Beijing, China
2013 Asian American Portraits of Encounter (traveling exhibition), Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
2013 Three Sisters Bound to the Elements, The Library Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, CA
2013 Moment for Ink (traveling show), San Francisco State University Gallery and SF Chinese Culture Center, CA
2012 Asian American Portraits of Encounter (traveling exhibition), Asia Society, Houston, TX
2012 The 9th Shanghai Biennale: On the Way Home, Pudong International Airport Museum, Shanghai, China ( catalogue)
2012 Out of Line, Richard L Nelson Gallery, UC Davis, CA (catalogue)
2012 Double Take, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia (brochure)
2012 Prism: Drawing from 1990-2012, Contemporary Museum of Art Norway, Oslo
2011 Asian American Portraits of Encounter, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC (brochure)
2010 The Tao of Now, White Rabbit Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2010 Ling, Bo and Hong Zhang: 3 sisters, 3 artists, 3 diverse works on paper, Whitespace, Atlanta, GA (catalogue)
2010 Intense Concentration, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX (brochure)
2008 Locks in Translation, A.I.R Gallery, Brooklyn, NY(brochure)
2007 Infinite Line: Contemporary Drawing in Time and Space, BRIC Rotunda Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 Reboot: The Third Chengdu Biennial, Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art, Sichuan, China (catalogue)
2005 Aspects of Humanity, Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, CA
2005 Biennial, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (catalogue)
2004 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Show, Nelson Gallery, U.C. Davis
2004 Three Sisters, B. Sakata Garo Fine Arts, Sacramento, CA
2003 The Spirit of Contemporary Asian Art, Sacramento State University Gallery, CA
2003 Political Woman, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003 Cream, Arts Benicia Gallery, Benicia, CA
2002 Asian American Gender and Identities, Reynolds Gallery, University of Pacific, CA
2001 Introduction, B. Sakata Garo Fine Arts, Sacramento, CA
1996 Twin Sisters, Contemporary Art Gallery, Beijing, China
1995 Chinese Contemporary Art, China National Museum of Fine Arts, Beijing, China (catalogue)