Peeping Painting

A rising star in the international art world, Guang-Yu Zhang, 33, grew up in Shanghai and graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2012. In 2014, he was selected for the international Emerging Artists Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London, that year, he also exhibited his work at the Tate Britain Museum in London. A finalist for the London Art Gemini Prize and Poto X 2017. He is known for his unique fusion of Eastern and Western cultures and traditional and contemporary techniques. International fashion trend forecasting company WGSN selected Guangyu's works as the 2018 SS fashion brand colour guidance in Greater China region. In 2018, Guangyu was invited by Hennessy Maison for collaboration, he created art for limited edition VSOP bottle, package design, advertisement films direction & creation. And then, He has also collaborated with Carlsberg and Hennessy Paradis in 2020 and 2021. Guang-Yu brings back the trend of fusing eastern and western culture, with new and old art.- in a way that goes off the beaten path. What really makes Guang’s ‘Oriental’ Series seem hypnotic is the symphony of rhythm and movement, an effect attained by creating the impression of swimming school of fish and darting birds. Song Dynasty master painter, Liu Cai, was known for his spectacular drawings of dragons and fish- often brining new life to old forms. This series in particular is really similar to the overall look and feel of Cai’s Swimming amid Falling Flowers (c.a 1075). Guang and Cai are brilliant at creating a realm where it seems like time has stool still. Both artists have present worlds in which fish follow each other in an unhinged pattern amongst water plants. Guang goes one step further into a creative direction by depicting birds, airplanes, a horse, a tiger, a moose, and a spaceship..? It is hard to really understand what is happening in Guang’s ‘Oriental’ worlds. How far into the future is this world? Or are these worlds a reflection of the present?