Zhong Chen Chinese Australian, b. 1969
Sophisticated mark-making and textural gesturality are tempered by cartoon-like playfulness; the colour palette is joyous yet harmonious.
Zhong Chen's artworks illustrate his continuous exploration and interpretation of Chinese traditional painting, and especially the calligraphic and watercolour traditions, adapted to contemporary artistic modalities and interpreted through his own unique aesthetic vision.
The male figure is auto-biographical and self-reflective; the choice of the animal figure is linked to the Chinese horoscope. Sophisticated mark-making and textural gesturality are tempered by cartoon-like playfulness; the colour palette is joyous yet harmonious. The combination of Western and Oriental motifs reflects the artist’s continuous exploration of the Chinese Australian identity within the local and international context.
Zhong Chen was a finalist in a number of awards and prizes, including the Doug Moran Portrait Prize (2001, 2008, 2009); the Archibald Prize (2007, 2011); the Wynne Prize (2006, 2008), and numerous others.
Melbourne-based Zhong Chen (born in 1969, Zhongshan, China; arrived in Australia in 1989) has been exhibiting extensively since the 1990s. He had held solo exhibitions in Melbourne (Span Galleries, Metro Gallery), Sydney (Evan Breuer Gallery), Perth (Greenhill Galleries) and on the Gold Coast (Art Galleries Schubert). The artist also held solo exhibitions at 200 Gertrude Street (2001), The Alternative Museum, New York (2001), International Studio, New York (2005), and the Australian High Commission in Singapore (2010).
Zhong Chen was a finalist in a number of awards and prizes, including the Doug Moran Portrait Prize (2001, 2008, 2009); the Archibald Prize (2007, 2011); the Wynne Prize (2006, 2008), and numerous others. His paintings reside in the collections of the Art Gallery of South Australia, HOTA, Artbank, Macquarie University, and notable corporate and private collections in Australia and abroad.