Zheng Chongbin fuses Western abstraction with the Chinese calligraphic tradition in works of ink- and acrylic-on-paper, finding contemporary relevance in antiquated forms of Asian ink art. Having studied and split his time in both China and the U.S., Zheng reveals the influences of both places and artistic traditions in his work.
He was educated as a classical Chinese figurative painter at the elite China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he taught for four years after graduation in 1984. Acclaimed as one of China’s preeminent young experimental ink painters in the 1980’s, he mounted his first solo exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Art in 1988. In 1989, he received a fellowship from the San Francisco Art Institute to study installation, performance, and conceptual art, receiving his MFA in 1991. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area for over three decades, Zheng is inspired by the region’s distinctive atmospheric and environmental effects and rich ecologies, as well as by the California light and space movement. For more on him and his works go to www.zhengchongbin.com
Show notes:
2:35 What growing up in Shanghai during the 1960s was like
8:20 Vague childhood memories of the Cultural revolution
12:45 How the influx of western culture and philosophy into China in the 80s influenced him as both an art student and teacher
30:00 How foreign students in at the China Academy of Arts at the time played a role in cultural exchange
34:30 Motivation factors which let him to go study in America
36:40 First impressions of arriving to SF in 1989 and how learning English was first priority over art practice at the time
43:00 How permanently living in America was never a plan, but rather the result of constantly exploring and adapting
45:40 The question of identifying with ethnicity or nationality
53:30 How art can bridge culture
100:00 Thoughts on NFTs
