Wanxin Zhang (born 1961) is a Chinese sculpturer who is based out of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Zhang's work is in the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Collections. Zhang was born in

Changchun, China Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

in 1961. Zhang attended Lu Xun Academy of Fine Art and was a part of the first generation to get a formal art education after the

cultural revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

. Zhang's work is inspired by Chinese culture, such as

Chinese opera Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...

, and his experience living in the United States. Zhang left China in 1992 and moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where he started working at the Artworks

Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

. The Artworks Foundry's founder

Peter Voulkos Peter Voulkos (born Panagiotis Harry Voulkos; 29 January 1924 – 16 February 2002) was an American artist of Greek descent. He is known for his abstract expressionist ceramic sculptures, which crossed the traditional divide between ceramic cr ...

and artist

Robert Arneson Robert Carston Arneson (September 4, 1930 – November 2, 1992) was an American sculptor and professor of ceramics in the Art department at University of California, Davis for nearly three decades. Early life and education Robert Carston Arn ...

have also been cited as influences. Zhang works as an instructor at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

. In 2008, Zhang's piece "Pit #5" was on display in the Art Beatus Gallery in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. In 2011, the

Bellevue Arts Museum The Bellevue Arts Museum is a museum of contemporary visual art, craft, and design located in Bellevue, Washington, part of the greater Seattle metropolitan area. A nonprofit organization established in 1975, the Bellevue Arts Museum (BAM) provides ...

held the first in-depth survey of Zhang's work with the exhibit titled "Wanxin Zhang: A Ten Year Survey." Zhang's piece "Panda Warrior" was on display at Hong Kong's Jingyixuan Gallery in 2012. In 2014, Zhang participated in a panel called "RISE UP! Art As Action: A Panel Discussion" with artists Chester Arnold and Michele Pred. Zhang, Arnold, and Pred were chosen for the panel since their work was featured in

br>Arts Education Project
��s exhibition "Rise Up! Art As Action." From December 2017 to January 2018, Zhang's “Wanxin Zhang: Fahrenheit" exhibit was on display at the

Catharine Clark Gallery Established in 1991, the Catharine Clark Gallery presents the work of contemporary, living artists using a variety of media. The gallery is located in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill Neighborhood, at 248 Utah Street. The Catharine Clark Gallery is ...

. In 2018, Zhang's exhibit "40x40" was on display at the

Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's d ...

Art Gallery. In 2019, Zhang had a solo exhibit at the San Francisco’s Museum of Craft and Design titled “Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey” that ran from April to July. He also had a joint exhibit with

ceramicist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take forms including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is one of the visual arts. Whi ...

Richard Shaw at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art titled “Richard Shaw and Wanxin Zhang.” In 2021, Zhang’s piece "Warrior with Color Face''"'' became part of the

's collection for the exhibit "This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World''"''. The piece was a gift in honor of the 50th anniversary of the

Renwick Gallery The Renwick Gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, D.C. that displays American craft and decorative arts from the 19th to 21st century. The gallery is housed in a National Historic Landmark building that ...

. It was also inspired by Zhang's study of the

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in ...

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

. In 2022, Zhang's solo exhibit "Wanxin Zhang: Witness" was on display at the

. His artwork was also on display at the 2022 Seattle Art Fair. Zhang's ceramic sculpture "Color Face" will be featured in an outdoor group sculpture exhibition called "Claiming Space: Refiguring the Body in Landscape" in 2023. The exhibit also features artists such as

Alison Saar Alison Saar (born February 5, 1956) is a Los Angeles, California based sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist. Her artwork focuses on the African diaspora and black female identity and is influenced by African, Caribbean, and Latin Ameri ...

, Pilar Agüero-Esparza, and

Hank Willis Thomas Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture. Early life and education Hank Willis Th ...

. Some of Zhang's work is also in the Holter Museum of Art's permanent collection.{{Cite web , title=Wanxin Zhang , url=https://holtermuseum.org/exhibitions/wanxin-zhang , access-date=2022-11-25 , website=The Holter , language=en-US

References

People from Changchun Chinese sculptors San Francisco Art Institute faculty Art educators 1961 births Living people

External links

Zhang's Official Website