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Yongbo Zhao
"This monograph is a confirmation of the artist Yongbo Zhao's standing, being one of the most fascinating contemporary artists to have emerged from China. Born in Manchuria in 1964, Zhao's artistic talent was recognised at an early age. Following his first taste of success as a schoolboy and after studying art in the provincial capital, he went on to receive national acclaim in China." "While working as a teacher in his late twenties, he became acquainted with the Western European artistic tradition and succumbed to its fascination. From that time onwards he rejected the Social Realist style that had dominated the art of late twentieth-century China, emigrated to Germany and over a period of four years, occupied himself with the art of the Old Masters and the techniques of their paintings and graphic works." Only once he had mastered the Classical painterly style and had an immense number of ideas for his pictures did he dare to display his talents to the public once again. He began by paraphrasing his own motifs and those of others, combining them to create provocative and often subversive works. In doing so, he repeatedly confronted the myths and idols of the West with those of China's standardized mass society, radically questioning both sides at the same time.
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First published July 30, 2008
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June 18, 2009
A Bright New Star on the Art Scene
Though Yongbo Zhao is 45 years old he is still considered to be one of the exciting new 'youngsters' in the field of figurative art. Born in China he was a successful 'proper artist' in the Chinese school of thought, painting and teaching with great popularity, until he tasted decadent Western art, emigrating to Germany in 1991 to absorb the edgy works of painters such as Goya, the pre-Raphaelites, and the bizarre images of Hieronymous Bosch. With these seeds firmly planted in his psyche he began producing works, both in painting and in etching that were his own versions of the influences. Now that he has mastered the brush and color techniques of the masters, he is painting some of the more fascinating works before the public today.
It is not unfair to find his paintings and etchings and drawings strange and bizarre. His subjects are often animals with humanoid features as well as humanoid behaviors! Bats hanging from the ceiling ('My Bloodsuckers') have human faces and corpulent bodies with human male genitalia; the 'Vulture Men' series deals with elderly warped men with a succulent child on the dinner table; 'Seals' gives the water dwelling forms human faces and female breasts; his cardinals and monks are men with turkey heads with wormy wattles. He paints congregations of frog creatures with bulging abdomens that suggest human indulgence.
His very large 'diptych-like' paintings depict a two headed horse ('East meets West' ) with one Western male end and one Eastern female end, or two approaching animal/human forms ('The Encounter') quibbling over food versus art making materials.
These are immaculately rendered paintings, rich in imagination, filled with metaphors, and filled with references to our great Western paintings ('Leda and the Swan', 'We are the People', 'Family Boat', etc.) but always with a signature use of brushstroke and color palette that brings them clearly into focus as Yongbo Zhao originals! Excellent book for an introduction to a great artist.
Grady Harp
Though Yongbo Zhao is 45 years old he is still considered to be one of the exciting new 'youngsters' in the field of figurative art. Born in China he was a successful 'proper artist' in the Chinese school of thought, painting and teaching with great popularity, until he tasted decadent Western art, emigrating to Germany in 1991 to absorb the edgy works of painters such as Goya, the pre-Raphaelites, and the bizarre images of Hieronymous Bosch. With these seeds firmly planted in his psyche he began producing works, both in painting and in etching that were his own versions of the influences. Now that he has mastered the brush and color techniques of the masters, he is painting some of the more fascinating works before the public today.
It is not unfair to find his paintings and etchings and drawings strange and bizarre. His subjects are often animals with humanoid features as well as humanoid behaviors! Bats hanging from the ceiling ('My Bloodsuckers') have human faces and corpulent bodies with human male genitalia; the 'Vulture Men' series deals with elderly warped men with a succulent child on the dinner table; 'Seals' gives the water dwelling forms human faces and female breasts; his cardinals and monks are men with turkey heads with wormy wattles. He paints congregations of frog creatures with bulging abdomens that suggest human indulgence.
His very large 'diptych-like' paintings depict a two headed horse ('East meets West' ) with one Western male end and one Eastern female end, or two approaching animal/human forms ('The Encounter') quibbling over food versus art making materials.
These are immaculately rendered paintings, rich in imagination, filled with metaphors, and filled with references to our great Western paintings ('Leda and the Swan', 'We are the People', 'Family Boat', etc.) but always with a signature use of brushstroke and color palette that brings them clearly into focus as Yongbo Zhao originals! Excellent book for an introduction to a great artist.
Grady Harp
Displaying 1 of 1 review