Zhang Chunyang | You Are Inside

Courtyard Gallery Annex is pleased to present "You Are Inside," an exhibition of paintings by Beijing-based artist Zhang Chunyang.  Zhang takes her own life as the subject of her paintings, transforming her memories into dream-like stories and moments.  Her final works are often presented on several canvas panels, recalling Renaissance altar pieces or the chapters in a novel or diary.  The paintings include Zhang herself, as well as the artist's former boyfriend and various figures in the guise of monsters, Buddhist gods, animals, and alter egos. 

Taken together, the paintings reveal a woman  caught in a web of desire, paranoia, melancholy, and  whimsy,  and an artist who is constantly examining her life and those around her. The well-known curator Huang  zhuan writes the following about Zhang's work-- "Her painting is just life her life--sometimes bright and  happy,sometimes dark and decadent...She's an artist who is hard to define, unless we think of all the complex elements in her paintings as a sensitive person's natural and proper reaction to our times...."

Born in Jilin Province, Zhang graduated from the Jilin Institute of Arts and received her M.F.A. from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, where she currently teaches in the Department of Painting. 

For more information about the show, please call +86 10 6434 9144.