Mary Martin Gallery of Fine Art

103 Broad Street, SE corner King and Broad, Charleston, SC 29401

Charleston Art Gallery

Mary Martin Gallery

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Christopher Zhang
Oil on Canvas
 
Christopher Zhang
"Stretching on the Bars" Oil on Canvas 40" X 60" $12,000
 
Christopher Zhang
"Three Swans" Oil on Canvas 40"X30" $9,000
Christopher Zhang
"Ready for Practice" Oil on Canvas 38" X 34" $9,600
Christopher Zhang
"Back Stage" Oil on Canvas 16" X 22" $3,900
 
Chris Zhang
"Girl By Window" Oil on Canvas 30" X 24" $6,900
Chris Zhang artist
Portraits by Zhang
 
 
Christopher Zhang
"Tibetan Girl" Oil on Canvas 36" X 30" $7,900
"Tibetan Farm" Oil on Canvas 23" X 33" $3,900
Christopher Zhang
Dance Studio 3 22"X18" $3900 Oil on Canvas
 
Chris Zhang artist
"Sea Storm" Oil on Canvas 20" X 26" $4,900
"Two Tibetan Girls" Oil on Canvas 23" x 29" $3,900
 
 
Christopher Zhang
 
B orn in Shanghai, China, I acquired a BFA degree in China and a MFA in the United States. In addition to creating subject matter paintings, I specialize in portraiture and landscapes. My versatile styles and skills at still life and in Chinese traditional painting and calligraphy have also won popularity. My primary painting medium is oil. Others are watercolor, acrylic, gouache and Chinese ink. A professional artist, I have been focusing on two types of subject matter paintings:

 

1. The Chinese minorities and their indigenous cultures and traditions:

There are more than fifty minorities, most of whom reside in China's wild west: rigid mountains, grassland and desserts. Lack of communications and transportation has largely limited their contact to the highly modernized world and allowed them to conserve their traditions and social customs. In Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, for instance, tribes of Tibetan, Dai, Yi, Bai and Buyi, etc. would often fascinate me with their unique clothes, simple living styles and religious beliefs. These cultural attractions made me pay many visits to these regions. The minorities have become an endless resource for my subject matter paintings. During my visits, I lived with the tribal people, sleeping in their tents, participating in their social activities and religious ceremonies. Doing so, I was able to collect valuable data including many drawings and photos that are a source of inspiration for the creation of large subject matter paintings.

2. Classical Ballet Dance

Another favorite theme is the Western ballet. Like the Western classical music, ballet has been my dream: a perfect combination of visual and performing arts. From the perspective of visual art, ballet shows perfectly the beauty of female body shape representing the classic aesthetic standard. Therefore, it becomes an attractive theme forever for me. I have visited many ballet schools and professional dance studios. Deeply impressed by the hard work of those ballerinas, I understand the proverb which goes "One-minute success on the platform is a result of ten years of hard work." The images of the young dancers are a symbol of purity and beauty, Painting them has become my strong desire and passion. That is why I call these paintings "the soul of dancers."
 

My painting style developed through three phases:

  • (1) My education of fine arts including normal pre-and post-college studies in China, was strongly influenced by the Russian realistic painting of the 19th century and the Soviet times. The focus was always on life model drawing and painting, studying the combination of color contrast and dark and light values as shown by different brushstrokes. Under professional gallery lighting, this kind of painting produced a realistic and vivid style but lacked delicacy and visual attraction In addition, the subject matter painting, like other media, would often be used for political propaganda in China. Most of my paintings of that period are unfortunately gone.
  • (2) After I came to the United States, I studied the Western art theories and many original master pieces from the Renaissance to modern ages: I was fascinated by Rembrandt's unique lighting and shading, Velazquez's fluent brushwork, Monet's and Renoir's brilliant coloring, Ruben's and Delacroix's magnificent composition. After that, my paintings looked much brighter and more delicately detailed. I began to pay more attention to composition and local colors. The new style generated a much better visual effect when the paintings were nicely framed and displayed at galleries. At that time, I painted a variety of subjects: ballerinas, portraits , landscape and small Chinese subject matter paintings. They were very well appreciated and collected by people in a great number.

  • (3) During the second phase of the style transition, the visual effects of my paintings improved significantly. However, they might be just too pretty to express personality, as if they nearly fell into a pattern of commercialization. I asked myself where the early 'spirit of painting' had gone. The 'spirit' had driven me to relentlessly pursue the true art of the first phase. I was eager to have it back. I realized that the key was to balance style and personality. After a trip to Europe, I came to the conclusion that I must follow the model of realism of both Eastern and Western European styles of the 19th century. Specifically, I try to combine the Impressionist colors with the big and rough brushstrokes of Russian realism. I have applied this combination of styles to the two types of subject matter paintings.:
    • .

    The Chinese minorities

    To represent their strong social and cultural characteristics, I did a few large complex paintings with rich colors and heavy wild brushwork. Heavy, solid and natural images were thus depicted with multi-layer colors.

    Ballet dance

    For this subject, I have also done some big size works but with simple compositions and fewer figures. I used delicate brushstrokes and simple palette in order to represent a classical image of the heavenly beauty, peace and harmony.
    		Today, I spend most of my time on those two kinds of theme paintings. There're many challenges: from getting new ideas, drafting and drawing all the way to finishing. I may need years to complete one creation of those paintings. Nonetheless, this is a rigid road for an artist to take a higher standard so as to continuously improve his art and reach greater success. Aside from this hard work, I paint portraits and landscapes occasionally. Portraits, as mostly commissions, are simply to satisfy patrons. Landscape painting is an easy and interesting creation. I paint them for relaxation. I enjoy painting the sea sunrise and sunset as well as the golden New England autumn. I really feel that I express my love of nature from the bottom of my heart in many small landscape paintings.
    		With more and more works winning prizes and collected by the public, I have an increasing feeling that art is more about the level of intellectual and cultural understanding than about the level of technical ability. In other words, a painting is not just composition, perspective, colors and values; it is the interaction of all visual and performing arts including music, dance, film and literature, etc. One can better understand the painting if one understands such connections.

     

               

    Present                                                Artist Member

                                                                Oil Painters of America

     

    Copley Master & member

                                                                The Copley Society of Boston, MA

                                                               

                                                                Artist Member

                                                                Salmagundi Club, NYC

                                                               

    Artist & member

                                                                Connecutict Fine Arts Academy, CT

     

                                                          Elected artist member

                                                          Lyme Art Association, CT

     

                                                    Board Member

    Griffis Art Center, CT

     

     

    EDUCATION:                      

    06/1990 – 01/1993                              Rhode Island College, RI, M.F.A.

    09/1984 – 07/1988                              East China Normal University, PRC, B.F.A.

     

    TEACHING EXPERIENCE:           Instructor

    v  Connecticut College

    v  Mystic Art Association

    v  Lyme Art Association

                                                               

    LECTURES:                          University of Connecticut, CT

    Harvard University, MA

    Art Talk on TV Channel 38, CT

    Lyme Allen Museum, CT

    Sun Cities Art Museum, AZ

    Providence Art Club, RI

    Manchester Art Association, CT

    East Hampton Art Association, CT

                                                    Glastonbury Art Association, CT

                                                    Meriden Art Association, CT

                                                    Mystic Art Association, CT

    Lyme Art Association, CT

                                                    Mitchell College, CT

     

                     

     

     


    PUBLICATIONS:

     

    2001                Images of Tibet  (art book)

    2000                The Royal Bee (illustration)  

                1999                Leech Tree (illustration)     

    1998                The Moon Festival (illustration)

    1997                Water Ghost (illustration)

                1997                Yong Bride (illustration)

                1996        First Apple (illustration)

     

                                 

                                                                                                                                             

    SOLO EXHIBITIONS:         (exhibits in China before 1989 not listed)

     

     

    2010                            Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, NYC

    2010                            Weatherburn Gallery, Naples, FL

    2008                            Copley Society of Art, Boston, MA

    2008                            National Culture Palace, Sophia, Bulgaria

    2008                            Smolyan Art Museum, Smolyan, Bulgaria

    2007, 2005, 2003        Weatherburn Gallery, Naples, FL

                                        Bellini Ruggeri Gallery, Providence, RI

    2006-2010                   Courtyard Art Gallery, Mystic, CT

    2005                            Imagine Fine Arts, Smithfield, RI                             

    2002                            Green Gallery, Guilford, CT

    2002                            Hygienic Art Gallery, New London, CT

    2005 & 2002 & 2001  University of Connecticut, CT

    2001                            Paul Mellon Arts Center Gallery, CT

    2001                            The Sole of the Dances—Mystic Art Association, CT

    2004 & 2001               New England Center of Contemporary Arts, CT

    1999                            Pifzer Corporation , CT

    1998                            New London Art Society, New London, CT

    1997                            River Gallery, Chattanooga, TN

    1996                            Southbridge Arts Center, Southbridge, MA

    1995                            Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, Old Lyme, CT

    1991 - 2002                 Tidwell Art Gallery, Charleston, SC

    1993                            Sun Cities Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

    1993                            Rhode Island College, Providence, RI

    1990                            Alart Gallery, Providence, RI

     

                                                                                                  
      Mary Martin 
       GALLERY       
    103 Broad Street,     Charleston, SC 29401  New Location
    Gallery Row on Historic Broad Street          843-723-0303

    We do our best to quote prices correctly on the website.  However, we ask that you check the price with the gallery for complete accuracy prior to making a purchase.