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Exhibition
Louise Zhang
Art eats its young…
2 May - 2 June 2018

Join us on Wednesday 2 May from 6-8pm for the opening of Louise Zhang’s latest solo exhibition Art eats its young

Louise Zhang is a Chinese-Australian artist, whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture and installation. Her work negates the space between the attractive and repulsive. With an interest in horror cinema, particularly body horror, Zhang investigates the idea of the visceral as medium, method and symbol in negotiating horror as art form.

In her latest body of work Art eats its young, Zhang continues to explore the monstrous and the grotesque, drawing on elements of traditional iconography and symbolism associated with ‘Diyu’ – the Chinese version of Hell.

Referencing this Taoist mythology, Zhang’s new paintings, sculptures and scroll-like banners incorporate demons, dismembered body parts and organs drawn from anatomy books, and cartoon-like ‘gore’ – overlaid with delicate illustrations of peonies, koi fish, scholar rocks and lunar imagery – all painted in the artists signature sugary palette. The resulting visual cacophony (a disjointed and disorientating mash-up of symbols and imagery) represents an attempt on Zhang’s part to reconcile and make sense of the fissures and contradictions that define her own identity. As a ‘third culture kid’ with a strict Christian upbringing, Zhang was discouraged from engaging with or learning about the superstitions that form such an inherent part of Chinese mythology and culture. Likewise, her teenage love of western horror films and gothic subculture, and her art making practice in general, were derided by her family as being sources of anxiety and depression. By researching and integrating these seemingly disparate sources of artistic inspiration into her latest series of works, Zhang documents her attempts at both constructing and deconstructing her own personal and cultural identity.

curator
Rhianna Melhem

Louise Zhang completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours (First Class) at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales in 2013, before completing a Masters of Fine Arts by research at UNSW Art & Design in 2016. Since 2012, she has been invited to exhibit as part of curated exhibitions including: Closing the Distance, curated by Sophia Cai, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre; From Old Ground, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery; Ereignis, curated by Lizzy Marshall, Cessnock Regional Gallery, Cessnock; Work, rest, PLAY!, Hawkesbury Regional Gallery; Right Here, Right Now, Penrith Regional Art Gallery; Biggie Smalls, Casula Powerhouse and Chinese Whispers, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery. Louise has also collaborated on projects with institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (who invited her to curate MCA Art Bar in January 2017) and 4a Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (who commissioned Louise to create a work as part of their 2017 Chinese New Year program).

Zhang has been awarded residencies via the Australia Council for the Arts at the Institute of Provocation in Beijing, China, and the Two to Three Residency Program in association with Organhaus in Chongqing, China. Louise has been a finalist in numerous prestigious art prizes and was the winner of both the 2015 Fisher’s Ghost Art Award – Sculpture category and the 2015 Yen Staedtler Female Art Award. Her work has been exhibited at Sydney Contemporary, Melbourne Art Fair and Art Central Hong Kong, and can be found in numerous private collections both nationally and internationally. In 2017 Louise was a finalist in the NSW Visual Arts Emerging Fellowship at Artspace in Sydney.

Additional Information

Upcoming Exhibition

main gallery
Owen Leong
5 April - 27 April 2024

Previous Exhibition

main gallery
Hyun-Hee Lee
2 February - 24 February 2024
Louise Zhang_The Pure land_2018_oil and acrylic on canvas_102 x 76cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Sinners into fragments_2018_acrylic, oil on plywood_90 x 60cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Hungry ghosts_2018_acrylic, oil on plywood_90 x 60cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_In Hell we..._2018_oil and acrylic on wood_50 cm diameter (part of a diptych). Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_In Hell we..._2018_oil and acrylic on wood_50 cm diameter (part of a diptych). Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Scholar Rocks Study_2018_ oil on wood_50 x 41cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Pick me a peach and place it on my body_2017_acrylic, oil on plywood, rope_140cm x 57cm. Photograph by Zan Wimberley. Louise Zhang_Soft Horror #1_2017_digital print on polyester, acrylic rod_190cm x 87cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Soft Horror #2_2017_digital print on polyester, acrylic rod_190cm x 87cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Soft Horror #3_2017_digital print on polyester, acrylic rod_420cm x 90cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Soft Horror #4_2017_digital print on polyester, acrylic rod_420cm x 90cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Soft Horror #5_2017_digital print on polyester, acrylic rod_420cm x 90cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Feed you pink #1_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay_49 x 46 x 43cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Feed you pink #2_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay_16 x 83 x 16cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Feed you pink #3_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay_82 x 27 x 13. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_Feed you pink #4_201_ polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #10_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay_18x50x 28cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #1_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_40 x 20 x 15cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #2_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_23 x 26 x 13cm and 42 x 20 x 15cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #3_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_50 x 15 x 15cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #4_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_32 x 14 x 14cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #5_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_29 x 28 x 20cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #6_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_23 x 25 x 21cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #7_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_38 x 16 x 14cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons #8_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_22 x 21 x 20cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Louise Zhang_The Devils Crayons_#9_2018_polyurethane, resin, spray paint, acrylic paint, foam clay, synthetic flowers_28 x 14 x 13cm. Photograph by Felicity Jenkins. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley. Art eats its young (2018)_Installation shot by Zan Wimberley.