Zhang Chun Hong

Hong Zhang (as she is known in the United States) is a Chinese-born artist living and working in this country whose work combines traditional skills with contemporary ideas. She received her BFA in Chinese painting from the Beijing Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1994 and came to the United States in 1996. After completing the MFA program at the University of California, Davis, in 2004, she moved to Lawrence, Kansas. Her work is collected and exhibited internationally.

Zhang (born 1971) references her own identity through disembodied images of long, straight, black hair. The exaggerated scale of the scrolls transforms this very personal exploration into a universal theme. The triptych Three Graces presents symbolic portraits of three Zhang sisters, all artists, reflecting their individuality as well as their sibling connection. The larger center piece depicts nurturing older sister Ling, flanked by Hong on the right and her left-handed identical twin Bo on the left. The scrolls Cyclone (with its reference to Hong’s Kansas home) and My Life Strands both examine a woman’s life cycle, from radiant, untangled youth to the twists and turns of midlife.

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