Artist Bing Zhang
Congratulations to Bing Zhang for earning her place as a Finalist in the Boynes Emerging Artist Award 7th Edition!
Who are you?
I am originally from Beijing, China. I moved to the US in 2001. I grew up with an interest in art, but didn’t have a chance to study art when I was young. Due to the highly competitive situation there, my parents didn’t think I should choose art as my major. Instead, I took their suggestion to study physics. My art education started at community colleges in the San Francisco Bay Area. Later I went to the San Francisco Art Institute to study painting and graduated with an MFA in 2011. Since then, I have been working at my home studio. Recently I was awarded a solo exhibition at Triton Museum in Santa Clara and I have shown extensively in the Bay Area. Awards for painting include best of show at the Haggin Museum in 2016, among others.
“Fallen”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
What inspired you to utilize painting as a medium?
I took a variety of art classes and I found that painting felt like a natural way to express myself. I like oil paint for its malleability. It allows me to make changes with its covering power or to build up an effect using multiple layers of transparent paint. Since it dries more slowly, it gives me time to model an image, which is especially beneficial when painting portraits or figures.
“Beach”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
How would you describe your artwork?
My paintings are frozen moments, slices of reality, I present them in a raw way, with details, harmony and discord. I tend to paint people in moments of introspection or concentration when they show their real character and mood which are normally behind the mask they put on in public. I paint in a realistic style.
“Subway 1”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind "Subway"?
The Subway paintings are embedded with concepts of class, work, connection / disconnection, and technology along with the intimacy of observation. I got the images for the Subway series when I went back to China to visit my family in 2014. Since I left China in 2001, it has gone through many changes. One of the changes was that the city had grown so much. Country people had crowded into the city to find a living. The subway is the main way these working class people get around. You can see the routine lifestyle of common people, who come from all over the country to seek their fortunes in the capital. During rush hour, the subway can be terribly crowded. In my Subway 2 painting, I tried to present a scene like that. In this painting, you can see a lot of people staying in the same space. One special quality of this time in the subways, is that everyone now is holding a phone. The phone gives them a way to escape from boredom and discomfort. Phones also function in this way as an alienator in physical space and as a connector in virtual space.
“Subway 2”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating "Subway"?
My working process involves first shooting photos. I like to carry my camera everywhere, shooting everyday scenes when people are not paying attention. Then, I play with my photos, make choices, and manipulate them with photo editing programs until I feel that they are carrying something emotional or meaningful. From there, I do multiple studies. Thumbnail sketches from source images help me to figure out composition. Then I do an oil sketch as a color study. After these studies, I start the painting. First, I sketch the whole image on canvas using a grid. Then, I paint a monochromatic underpainting. On top of that, I start to paint a rough layer with colors to cover the underpainting from back to front. After this layer, I will work area by area into details until every part of the painting is fully developed. Before the painting is totally finished, I check the whole painting carefully and add finishing touches where needed.
“Subway 2 (Underpainting)”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?
With my work I try to show the hidden truth that I sense exists deep within people’s experience of the world, and reflects their living condition, their mental state, their interests, and other aspects of their disposition of being. I hope to search out the humanity within these situations.
“Subway 3”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
Have you experimented with other mediums?
The mediums I have practiced include pencil, charcoal, pen and acrylic paint.
“Lily”
Charcoal Pencil on Toned Paper
By Bing Zhang
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
I feel that my biggest learning experience was while I was working on my painting, “Voyage”. The most challenging part of this work was to achieve the three dimensional space in this both indoor and outdoor setting. It was especially difficult to paint the architectural structure of the deck of the ship where the subject is sitting. I learned to gradually manipulate the color intensity, sharpness of line, contrast of value as the depth increases into the distance.
“Voyage”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
Being able to paint my subjects in a more realistic style, which requires gaining fundamental knowledge including human anatomy, linear and aerial perspective, is the main success I have gained. I learned these techniques through taking classes and practicing on my own. One of the very helpful practices for me is doing cast drawings. I will keep trying to practice these techniques in my future work.
What projects are you working on currently?
I am working on a new cityscape painting, which I might name “Market”. It is the scene of an outdoor market in Hong Kong. What I try to capture in this work is the vividness of a big urban city with all the interesting details which reflect its history, culture, and lifestyle. I feel that Hong Kong is a place that is very rich in all these aspects. I plan to do a series of cityscapes of Hong Kong.
“Market” (Unfinished)
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
What is your dream project or piece you hope to accomplish?
In my recent art practice I started to try to go beyond realism and the rational thinking behind it, to explore something new, something irrational. I feel that my painting “Boy on a Train '' is along this direction. In this diptych painting the window reflection of the boy and his uneasy facial expression give this work a dreamy quality.
I have been collecting images along this line of thinking. I achieved some interesting effects through incorporating natural optical effects such as dim lighting, superimposed reflections, and low shutter speed motion blur. Some best images of my new experiment include the photos I shot during the pandemic while walking at night. I feel that in these images there is a sense of isolation in the ominous darkness, which reflects my feelings of current events. I hope something out of these images will become a new body of work.
“Boy on a Train”
Oil on Canvas
By Bing Zhang
As a finalist, do you have any advice for artists who want to submit to awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?
My advice to them is keep trying to look for and submit your works to shows, no matter how hard it is at the beginning.
“Huiyan”
Pastel Pencil on Toned Paper
By Bing Zhang
Lastly, I like to ask everyone what advice they would give to their fellow artists/photographers, what is your advice?
My advice to fellow artists is to keep working. Trying to build a good working routine can be very helpful. Don’t give up, especially when you are experiencing frustrations.
To view more of Bing Zhang’s work