Zhang Jian-Jun

Hailing from Shanghai, China, Zhang Jian-Jun (b.1955) is one of the most disciplined and gifted contemporary Asian artists of our time. Zhang graduated from Shanghai Drama Institute’s Fine Arts Department in 1978 and is today an Adjunct Professor at the Fine Arts Department of New York University.

Zhang’s art perforates the surface of East-West fusion and the idea of time, expressing his strikingly unique and profoundly perceptive musings. Exploring the essence of these topics, his art may not be instantaneously interpretable by many; however this is also the very quality that elevates the intellectual element of his works, inviting viewer participation. Zhang demonstrates his gift in the artistic manipulation of time by re-creating the ancient scholar rock, appreciated by Chinese scholars thousands of years ago, with modern material such as silicone rubber. Creatively, he has resurrected a fragment of history and propelled the episodic moments from that distant time to this present age. These consequential works are evidently contemporary and undoubtedly unique.