Two New Museum Exhibitions for Wanxin Zhang
The 40th Anniversary Exhibition at SSU – November 18
Wanxin Zhang has two museum exhibitions in November 2018. At Sonoma State University, Wanxin is a part of the “40 by 40: The 40th Anniversary Exhibition.” From the SSU website, the “40 by 40: The 40th Anniversary Exhibition will feature one work each by 40 significant artists whose work has been exhibited in the Art Gallery since its founding, along with displays documenting the rich—and ongoing—history of the SSU Art Gallery. The exhibition will be accompanied by an illustrated catalogue.” In addition to Zhang, the exhibition includes Hung Liu, Enrique Chagoya, Mildred Howard, and Susan Rothenberg. The show runs through 8 December 2018. You can see Wanzin’s work at Santa Clara University in the show “Richard Shaw & Wanxin Zhang.” Although best known as a trompe l’oeil painter, Shaw is also a ceramist, having studied with Peter Voulkos and Ron Nagle, among others. This show pairs the two artists in a dialogue about representation of image, and the firmness of reality, alongside themes of the every day versus great moments in history. 30 November 2018
Museum Exhibitions for Wanxin Zhang
Wanxin Zhang – Ceramics Monthly – October 2017
We are very happy to announce that Wanxin Zhang has four upcoming museum exhibitions opening in the fall of 2017.
You can see his work in the show “Bay Area Clay” at the Benicia Art Center in Benicia, California from 14 October through 19 November 2017, as well as in “From Funk to Punk, Left Coast Ceramics” at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York from 10 November 2017 through 15 April 2018.
Benicia Art Center
Everson Museum of Art
His work is also included in the exhibition “Sabbath” at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco from 12 November 2017 through 25 February 2018, and in the AnRen Art Biennale in Chengdu, China from 28 October 2017 through January 2018.
May 31, 2016 | Reconstruction: Holly Roberts and Wanxin Zhang
Wanxin Zhang
Both Holly Roberts and Wanxin Zhang reconstruct reality by repurposing it. Roberts, one of New Mexico’s most influential contemporary artists, photographs nature and elements of our physical world. She doesn’t re-present the imagery she photographs; she constructs entirely new images using magnified tiny areas of texture. While her images are undeniably residential in her personal interior world, they evoke “memory” or “connection” in all of us, because we recognize something familiar in them. Sometimes a tiny swath of a hair becomes an enlarged mass of texture in a bold, large, Roberts image. While we don’t immediately identify what part of nature the textured area represents in reality, it speaks to us of humanity and a richness we all share.
The terra cotta warriors found in Xian, buried near Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, largely influence Zhang, a Chinese artist. As a ceramicist, when he first saw these warriors that protected the burial site of the emperor, he was struck by the individuality displayed in every single sculpture. The fact that artists took such great care to give different human attributes to each warrior, lent reverence to their task. Zhang sees his “warriors” as all of us—contemporary man and woman. He imbues each of his “warriors” with symbols indicating contemporary life, such as spectacles, binoculars, and skateboards. He uses the same techniques with his clay and glazes, as the artist’s millennia ago, thereby referencing the past while making a statement about contemporary life.
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May 31 – June 19, 2016 | Holly Roberts and Wanxin Zhang: Mind Made Up
Holly Roberts and Wanxin Zhang
This exhibition explores the ties between the artists using amalgamation of old and new. In the case of Holly Roberts she uses old images in new constructions, whereas Wanxin Zhang uses old history in the new context.
Opening Reception Friday, June 3, 2016 from 5 to 7pm
[n.b. that this event takes place in Santa Fe]
April 14 – 17, 2016 | Turner Carroll at the Dallas Art Fair
Dallas Art Fair
Located at the Fashion Industry Gallery, adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art in the revitalized downtown arts district. Featuring new works by gallery artists Fausto Fernandez, Hung Liu, Squeak Carnwath, Drew Tal, Jamie Brunson, Rusty Scruby, Edward Lentsch, Wanxin Zhang, Suzanne Sbarge, Karen Yank, Scott Greene, Holly Roberts, and more! Fair hours are Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16 respectively, from 11am to 7pm, and Sunday, April 17 from 12pm to 6pm, with an opening preview gala Thursday, April 14.
A link to the Dallas Art Fair is here.
Manuel Neri Visits the Studio of Wanxin Zhang & Hung Liu Wine Labels!
Hung Liu Wine Labels
Wanxin Zhang & Manuel Neri
Lots of news from San Francisco of late. Wanxin Zhang sent us this great photo of him with fellow sculptor, and good friend, Manuel Neri. Neri is a long-time favorite of Turner Carroll, and a storied Bay Area artist having studied with art world legends Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff. Neri was also a big part of the influential Six Gallery with compatriots Joan Brown, Jay DeFeo and Bruce Conner.
Hung Liu’s wine labels for Imagery Estate Winery are also making the rounds. We found this image on www.thesavory.com. According to the article by Ross Gardiner “The added attention given by the artwork has certainly helped to make them standout from the crowd. Every vintage of every variety has label art commissioned by the winery. Healdsburg-based artist Bob Nugent provided the original paintings, and since then has acted on a full-time basis as the curator. The winery has commissioned over 400 pieces of art to date, and receives over 200 requests per year to show art on their bottles.”
Wanxin Zhang on Panel for History & Future of California Ceramic Sculpture
Wanxin Zhang
On Sunday, September 21, 2014 from 12 to 4pm Wanxin Zhang will be a part of an important symposium of ceramic sculpture at the Vessel Gallery presented by the Friends of Oakland Art Murmur. Artists include well-known California ceramists Christine Assad, James Melchert, Juan Miguel Santiago, John Toki and Wanxin Zhang. The keynote will be given by longtime art historian, curator and educator Nancy Servis who is currently a Research Fellow at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona. For more information and tickets please go to www.oaklandartmurmur.com.
July 28 – August 25, 2017 | Survival
Turner Carroll Gallery – Survival – Hung Liu – August 2014
Survival at Turner Carroll Gallery
Turner Carroll Gallery is excited to conclude the summer season with a group exhibition, “Survival,” presenting work by Traian Filip, Hung Liu, Georges Mazilu, Igor Melnikov, Wanxin Zhang, and Nele Zirnite. In this exhibition, we will celebrate the work of artists who escaped the oppression of their birthplace and learned to survive and flourish in a new home by translating their stories through art. These artists used their artistic practice as their means of survival, and by sharing their visual histories, they inspire us all.
Wanxin Zhang in Artslant
Wanxin Zhang
Wanxin and his exhibition here at Turner Carroll received notice as a Watchlist Artist in the August 2013 edition of ArtSlant. Wanxin takes as his starting point the Yuan tomb warriors: thousands of actual-faced, terra cotta soldiers buried with China’s first emporer in 210 B.C. Bringing them forward in time, Wanxin’s terra cotta figures are stripped of weapons, and given more modern accoutrements, suggesting a dialogue between China and the viewer.
A link to the article is here.
Wanxin Zhang at the Berkeley Art Center
Wanxin Zhang at the Berkeley Art Center
From September through November 18, 2012 Wanxin Zhang is in an exhibition titled “Local Treasures: Bay Area Ceramics” at the Berkeley Art Center in Berkeley, California. This bi-annual exhibition, begun in 2010, features artists who have had a significant impact in the artistic fabric of this community. Co-curated by Berkeley Art Center Director Suzanne Tan and Richard Whittaker publisher of Works & Conversations, the focus of this year’s exhibition is on Bay Area ceramics and includes the work of Clayton Bailey, Viola Frey, Ted Fullwood, Jon Gariepy, Mary Law, Annabeth Rosen, Nancy Selvin, Richard Shaw, Sandy Simon, John Toki, and Wanxin Zhang. An array of masterful and mysterious works in clay, the exhibition presents a compelling individualistic and authentic approach to the medium as expressed in the work of these accomplished artists. A link to the exhibition is here.
Wanxin Zhang at the Richmond Art Center
“Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey”
“Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey” will be showing at the Richmond Art Center from April 3 to June 2, 2012. This exhibition has been on the road for the past two and a half years, traveling to a total of six venues in six states. It’s finally back in California. The show was curated by Peter Held, Curator of Ceramics at the Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center. Wanxin is represented in the permanent collection of the ASU Museum, which is widely regarded as the finest ceramic collection in the country.
Warriors With a Difference 19 January 2012
Wanxing Zhang – Installation at the Holter Museum of Art
Inspired by the 1974 discovery of 8,000 terracotta life-size warriors buried at the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang Di (259-210 B.C.), the first emperor of China, artist Wanxin Zhang created his own series of contemporary, everyman life-size warriors.
An exhibit of his works, “Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey,” opens 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at the Holter Museum of Art with a reception for five new exhibits (see related stories), launching the Holter’s 25th Anniversary year.
Wanxin Zhang Article in Ceramics: Art and Perception
Ceramics: Art and Perception
Julie Beal writes a great and interesting review of Wanxin’s work in the context of his solo Ten-Year Survey at the Bellevue Arts Museum. Julie digs deep in Wanxin’s Chinese-American-ness, connecting work by great American sculptors like Robert Arneson with the Qin terracotta warriors. Eloquent discourse on the contrapuntal forces in Wanxin’s work–individual figures in the context of a collective–make this article a great read. Kudos! A link to the article is here.