Snow at Tyler Creek -1 Painting

My work in recent years has been exploring the possibilities when different mediums coexist, integrate and thrive. I have developed and versed the methods and techniques called "Paralleled Process” that include a three-stage process of “Two surfaces - Selections – Merge”. First, the base layer on the canvas and the ink patterns on rice paper are prepared, in an impulsive and gestural manner. Then part of the ink painting is selected, torn and shaped into the canvas. The inked collage elements fuse, flow and blend with the acrylic paint surroundings, they are often significant elements as the starting or focal points of a composition. Since Gesture Expressionism plays an important role in the practice, the manipulation and control of "incidental beauty" is essential in the process. The weight of brushstrokes, the movement of lines and shapes, the intensity of textures and colours, all these elements cannot be repeated technically, and they are unique from one painting to another. However, this method can be and has been used and developed to create the coherent vocabularies for my work. My inspirations mainly draw from experience and observation of colour, form, sound, light, atmosphere and events in nature and surroundings. The inspirations from the outside world serve as the initial stimulus to engage and channel emotions and ideas onto the canvases. By using the above vocabularies that I have, I try to be free, expressive, methodical and see each painting as a new starting point to explore, with a "Zen" approach balancing emotion and awareness, spontaneity and contemplation, action and meditation. For me, revealing uniqueness and sustainability through "one of kind" different vocabularies is the path to discover the true identity of my work. Bio: Simon Zhang is an artist and designer, living and working in Toronto, Canada. He has been represented by galleries in Toronto and Montreal where he participated in many art exhibitions and art fairs. His work is in private collections by patrons from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Sweden and USA. His artwork has been exhibited in Germany and has also been auctioned by Neumeister in Germany, 2011 and Christie in UK, 2001.