The 1997 Anne & Gordon Samstag
International Visual Arts Scholarships
Artist: ZHONG CHEN
Stupid laughing 1 1996
oil on linen
900 x 120 cm
© the artist
Stupid laughing 2 1996
oil on linen
200 x 200 cm
© the artist
Zhong Chen's deft renderings of landscape from the southern Flinders Ranges would by themselves demonstrate his grasp of Australian cultural issues. An emigrant from Zhongshan, China, Chen has claimed a view long colonized by the European, yet unremarked by oriental eyes.
That this might seem exotic would ignore the preponderance of landscape in traditional Chinese art and, more poignantly, the long history of emigration by Chinese people to the Australian bush.
By placing himself iconographically against this laden background, Chen lifts his subject matter to a social commentary on isolation and difference. Parodically laughing the Chinaman's mute, stock-in-trade smile, he becomes an exemplar of cultural ambiguity and camouflage.
Ross Wolfe
Director, Samstag Program
from the 1997 Samstag catalogue
Elephant Poo
| ZHONG CHEN Born 1969, Zhongshan, Peoples Republic of China |
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| 1997 | Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship MA in Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design, London |
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| 1996 | Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), South Australian School of Art, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia | |
| 1994 | Diploma of Visual Arts, North Adelaide School of Art, Adelaide | |
| 1989 | Arrived Australia | |
| 1988 | Graphic Design, Beijing Central Commercial Art College, Peoples Republic of China | |
| 1986 | Free Brush Mark Painting, Zhongshan Visual Arts Centre, Peoples Republic of China |