ART COLLABORATION KYOTO 2022

Chinese American artist Zhao Gang’s new series throws out the theme “What is the Meaning of Paintings?” History, eroticism, religion, and politics, four most iconic elements of the artist are placed in four paintings. These works reveal a sense of sketching, lines are enlarged and the color fields are deconstructed. The figures and objects that we could easily distinguish in his previous art are now abstract and ambiguous. Conceptually, the series demonstrates how Zhao “learned to become an abstract artist from a painter.” He also put days on the canvas to document his “practice.” During the making process, Zhao questioned “what is painting,” “what is abstract art,” and “what is an artist.” Such rational motivation challenges how abstraction is usually emotiondriven.

Zombie Abstraction, Artificial Intelligence Art, and the paintings that Zhao made intentionally prove that abstraction can be made without emotions, resonating the theme of the series. However, abstraction is probably the only way out for Zhao to react to his surroundings that his figurative statements are not allowed. Thus, he learned to be an abstract artist to present acceptable and uncontroversial art, which is the most ironic aspect of being an artist.