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.