ZHAO ZHAO

 

b.1982, Xinjiang, China

 

Zhao Zhao graduated from the Xinjiang Institute of the Arts in 2003 and later attended the Beijing Film Academy. Now he is regarded a significant figure among the young Post-80s generation of contemporary Chinese artists – Zhao Zhao’s work is often associated with anti-authoritarian or non-conformist tendencies, renowned for confronting existing ideological structures and exercising the power of individual free will in his work. ​

 

In his art, he engages with real subjects in multiple mediums and plays with art forms, emphasising an exploration of the relationship between the individual and the rest of society. His work is developed around the subtle emotional changes that take place as we are confronted with diverse cultural influences. He brings together the expressive methods of contemporary art and traditional culture to create metaphors for people's living circumstances and modern society's real conditions in a globalized world. His works also reflect his attitudes toward the coexistence of collective and individual ideals.

 

His recent solo exhibitions include “A Long Day”, Macao Museum of Art, Macau, China, 2022; “Parallel Affinity”, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea, 2022; “City of Sky”, Tang Contemporary Art, Bangkok, Thailand, 2022; “Zhao Zhao”, Long Museum, Shanghai, China; “Zhao Zhao”, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2021; “White”, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2020; “Green”, Song Art Museum, Beijing, 2019; “In Extremis”, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2018; “One Second · One Year”, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, China, 2018; “Desert Camel”, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China, 2017; “Desert Below A Constellation in the Sky”, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, China, 2017.

 

His work has been shown in group exhibitions and collected by many institutions, including MoMA PSI (New York), Groninger Museum (Groningen), the Museum of Asian Art (Berlin), Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art (Berlin), MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art (Rome), the DSL. Collection (Paris), Castellón Contemporary Art Space (Castellón), the White Rabbit Gallery (Sydney), M+ (Hong Kong), the Minsheng Art Museum (Beijing), the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (Beijing), Minsheng Art Museum (Shanghai), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai) and the Yokohama Triennale (Yokohama).

​

His provocative, multidisciplinary artistic practice has garnered him international attention in recent years with critically-acclaimed exhibitions across China, North America and Europe as an ‘artist to watch’. In 2017, the artist won the “Young Artist of the Year” of AAC, Award of Art China.