Zhang’s body of work displays a sense of vulnerability in her eagerness of finding peace in objects. The paintings of flowers, objects, and landscapes illuminate the experience of living alone in New York during times of uncertainty. Zhang utilizes her daily experiences of venturing alone in the city in exploring the bigger picture of “nonchalantly existing”: what aspects of living should an individual prioritize when experiences are “refreshed” daily; in other words, Zhang justifies her purpose of living with “simple” interactions of objects from day-to-day basis. Zhang’s sentimental handle of paint combines with the careful, and confrontational object placement resulted in series of paintings of “transparent” intimacy: “mirrored” abbreviation of daily experience that’s portrayed through objects of the mundane. The flowers in Zhang’s work represents her desire in accepting reality as it is; on the contrary, the small objects embody the opposite: if reality is sweet and manipulatable. Zhang’s paintings of objects and flowers are sedative, tantalizing, and superstitious. The exhibition displays an array of object, floral paintings that take audience on a journey to appreciate life as a moment that becomes “unrelatable” when distant. Like an essay that’s hastily written, cluttered with “periods”.

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Kelly Zhang, artist, settled in the United States in 2006, the artistic host of Kelly Studio in the United States. At the same time, she also served as the artistic director of the China Cultural Center of Dubai Expo 2020; Member of Art Committee of China Pingyao International Art Center; Member of Academic Committee, FAC International Academy of Children's Arts, Hong Kong; Member of Beijing Shangyuan Artists Association. Her work has been exhibited at the Clunny Art Center in France, the Metropolitan pavilion in New York. She held solo exhibitions at Dongyue Art Museum in Beijing in October 2019 and at Tai Art Center in Shanghai in November 2021.

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Curated by Peter Huang, the exhibition will be on view August 1 - 15, 2023, with an opening reception on August 3, 6-8 pm.  

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Graphic Designer: Zona Yuechen Guan

Photographer: Guang Chen

Curatorial Assistant: He Zhou

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