Shao Yuan Zhang

Shao Yuan Zhang’s energetic oil paintings of stallions explore and illustrate movement through nature. His work represents his immigrant journey, and moments of his Chinese self-identity intersecting with the surrounding American culture into which he wades. Zhang incorporates both contemporary – watercolor – and traditional – ink calligraphy – painting styles in his work, blending notes of energy, optimism, eagerness, hunger, and naiveté with strokes of indifference toward the societal obsession with materialism over nature.

Zhang reconciles the traditional style he learned as a woodcut artist crafting propaganda art for the communist party during the Cultural Revolution with the contemporary technique he learned through completing his MFA degree at University of Utah. He worked for many years as AOCE Fine Art instructor at his alma mater. Zhang has participated in numerous exhibitions, including a solo show of landscape oils with Utah Transportation Operations Center, and several international exhibitions including the Chinese National Art Exhibitions and Chinese National Youth Art Exhibitions. Zhang has been published in Art Magazine and selective art magazines and newspapers across China. He currently works from his studio in Jamaica Plain, MA.

Fountain Street Exhibitions: Breaking the Rules, Unturned, Thrive