Zhong Biao

Zhong Biao

1968 Born in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, China

1987 Studied at Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Fine Arts), Hangzhou, China

Statement by the artists

I like to paint people in black and white because people are temporary - they will eventually leave the world and become the past. However, some buildings live longer than people; they continue to exist in the world. This is why I paint people in black and white and the background in colour. The contrast with colour is to highlight this dichotomy.

Sometimes, unfortunate things suddenly appear - they become the past, and then the future pushes forward. When today arrives, today becomes the past. It's a continuous process - a cycle. And everyone in the world is constituted from pieces of time. Therefore, in my paintings I can freely co-ordinate the past, present and future.

I don’t want to force my own understanding or interpretation of my paintings on the audience. The mixture of images within each of my paintings is like a combination of controversial elements in life. We don’t have to understand everything we see in each painting. Like life, we cannot understand everything that we have seen or experienced. In my paintings, Eastern and Western, historical and modern opposites coexist, reflecting the reality of today’s lifestyle.

I have only one dream: That the people I have painted will, many years from now, visit the people of the future on my behalf, taking along with them this chaotic world.

- Zhong Biao

Selected Exhibitions

2005

Zhong Biao - solo exhibition, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai, China

Cohesion, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai, China

2004

The Art Scene in China, Art Scene Warehouse, Shanghai, China

2003

A Chinese Oasis, Art Scene China, Shanghai, China

Art Chicago 2003, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA

2002

Summer Exhibition, Aspen, Colorado, USA

Art Chicago 2002, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Art Miami 2002, Miami Beach Convention Centre, Miami, Florida, USA

2001

A Chance Existence - Zhong Biao Solo Exhibition, Art Scene China, Hong Kong

San Fransisco International Art Exhibition (SFIAE), Fort Mason, San Francisco, USA

Chinese Faces, Group Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore

Chinese Culture Week, El Salvador and Sao Paolo, Brazil

Chilli from Chongqing, Kassel, Germany

2000

Out of the Box, Art Scene China, Hong Kong

At the New Century: 1979-1999, Chengdu, China

Exhibition at Guangdong Art Museum, Guangzhou, China

A Chinese Oasis, Art Scene China, Shanghai, China

1999

The Ninth Annual Art Exhibition of China, Shanghai

The Northeast and Third World Art Exhibition, Seoul, Korea

Joint Exhibition of Chinese-Vietnamese Oil Painting, Singapore

Works exhibited at Art Scene China, Art Scene China

1998

5+ 5 Russian and Chinese Paintings, Hong Kong

Confused - Reckoning With the Future, Contemporary Chinese Paintings and Photography, Amsterdam

Asian Avant-Garde, Christie's London, UK

1997

The Fable of Life - Oil Paintings by Zhong Biao, Hong Kong

Walking to a New Century - Young Chinese Oil Painting, Beijing, China

Portraits of the Ladies Exhibition, Hong Kong

1996

Elevenses - The Avant-Garde, Hong Kong

Art Miami '96, Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, USA

1995

History of Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting - From Realism to Past to Modernism, Galerie Theoremes Brussels, Belgium

Vision of China - Contemporary Paintings by Chinese Masters, Bangkok, Thailand

1994

8th Chinese Oil Painting Biennial Exhibition, Beijing, China

1990

Chinese Oil Painting, Selective Exhibition, Tokyo, Japan