ZHANHONG LIAO

Painter and sculptor | The Netherlands / China

Zhanhong Liao is from Guangzhou, China. She completed her General Art & Design training at the City College of Manchester (England) in 1994. Her oeuvre consists of painting, photography, performances, video, mixed media and community-based art.  

Using different ways of expression to discover more in myself, that is the outcome of freedom and getting more mature. I’d like to see myself as a person who keeps developing in compassion, sympathy, loving and intellectual than a craftsman. Art is everywhere. And art leads us to explore the world.

PORTRAIT

Zhanhong was born in 1965 in Guangzhou, China. Following her art graduation from Manchester City College (England), she lives and works in the Dutch town of Vlaardingen, and is a member of the Pulchri Studio Society of Artists in The Hague since 1999. Her work, originally consisting of diaries and paintings, shows a rapid development from figuration to a somewhat looser, more abstract approach – if she uses Chinese characters in a painting, these don’t have to be read  as language, but moreover they are primarily shapes,  elements of the work’s composition. The materials employed by Zhanhong play an increasing part in her diaries and paintings (aside from paint, she also applies materials like fabrics and wire gauze), making the diaries diary objects.  


She also works in other media, e.g. performance, video and digitally-based  works. At the same time she engages in dialogue with the world around her in other ways: in 2009 she made large-sized digital works based on hundred of collected photos of inhabitants of Vlaardingen. Zhanghong has exhibited solo in Amsterdam and  participated in group exhibitions in [amongst  others] Saint Petersburg (Russia), Izmir (Turkey), Helsinki (Finand), 

Kampala (Uganda) and Brescia (Italy).  Her projects, lectures and stays as an artist-in-residence take her from  China to Tunisia and Germany.

Zhanhong was born in 1965 in Guangzhou, China. Following her art graduation from Manchester City College (England), she lives and works in the Dutch town of Vlaardingen, and is a member of the Pulchri Studio Society of Artists in The Hague since 1999. Her work, originally consisting of diaries and paintings, shows a rapid development from figuration to a somewhat looser, more abstract approach – if she uses Chinese characters in a painting, these don’t have to be read  as language, but moreover they are primarily shapes,  elements of the work’s composition. The materials employed by Zhanhong play an increasing part in her diaries and paintings (aside from paint, she also applies materials like fabrics and wire gauze), making the diaries diary objects.  

She also works in other media, e.g. performance, video and digitally-based  works. At the same time she engages in dialogue with the world around her in other ways: in 2009 she made large-sized digital works based on hundred of collected photos of inhabitants of Vlaardingen. Zhanghong has exhibited solo in Amsterdam and  participated in group exhibitions in [amongst  others] Saint Petersburg (Russia), Izmir (Turkey), Helsinki (Finand), 
Kampala (Uganda) and Brescia (Italy).  Her projects, lectures and stays as an artist-in-residence take her from  China to Tunisia and Germany.      



WORKS

CREDENTIALS

Selected exhibitions

2019 
  • Voorjaarsalon, Pulchri Studio 
  • Contemporary Art Gallery Har Hensgens 
2018 
  • Solo, Gallery 44, The Hague 
  • Voorjaarsalon, Pulchri Studio, The Hague 
  • Kunstspoor, Kortgene, Noord-Beverland 
2017 
  • Rooting in between, RIB, Schiedam 
  • Najaarsalon, Pulchri Studio 
  • ‘t Huis van Zotheid, Rotterdam  
2016 
  • Solo, Pulchri Studio, The Hague 
  • Stichting Kunstwerkt, Schiedam 
  • Art Center Remagen, Germany  
2015 
  • Gallery de 13e Maand, ‘Reflectie’ (duo), Rotterdam 
  • Gallery De Duig, Vlaardingen 
  • De Windwijzer, (solo) Vlaardingen 
  • ‘t Hof Mieszcanskim, ‘Paspoort to Art’, Torun Poland 
  • Pulchri Studio, The Hague 
  • Pand Paulus, ‘Me, Myself and I’, Schiedam 
  • KADE 40, ’Symbiose’, Vlaardingen 
2014  
  • Gallery Wies Willems, Amsterdam 
  • Gallery RAR, ‘Grenzeloos’, Spijkenisse 
  • Pulchri Studio, The Hague 
  • Gallery de 13e Maand, Rotterdam 
  • Pand Paulus, Schiedam 
2013  
  • Pand Paulus, ‘Dialogen’, Schiedam 
  • Pulchri Studio, The Hague 
  • Pand Paulus, ‘Afscheid’, Schiedam 
  • Gallery Double Trees, Hilton
  • Hotel Kussadassi, Turkey 
  • Diversity & Art, Amsterdam (solo) 
2012 
  • Gallery Myro, Thessaloniki, Greece 
  • pArt 96 e.V.,Künstlergemeinschaft Münster, Germany
  • Selexyz Donner, Rotterdam 
  • ‘Naakt vs Bloot’, Pand Paulus, Schiedam 
    ‘East meets West’, Kunst im Schlosskeller, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany 
  • Boyuan Art Gallery, The Hague 
  • The Goethe Institute, Freiburg, Germany 
  • International Exhibition “CULTURES OF COSMOS”, Hall of the Palace of Romanian Parliament, Bucharest 
2011 
  • Puchri Studio, The Hague (solo) 
  • Pand Paulus, Schiedam 
  • Galerie Hollandia, Vlaardingen 
  • Izmir International Biennial, Izmir, Turkey 
  • ContemporaryESTeeLIE, PRIMAVERA Ahoy Rotterdam 
  • Muzee, Scheveningen 
  • CBK, Rotterdam
  • Het Loggerfestival, Vlaardingen 
  • Studio Zi, Rotterdam
  • Festival Int. des Arts Plastiques de Monastir, Tunisia  
2010 
  • Galerie Josine Bokhoven, Amsterdam (solo) 
    Open Art Fair, ESTeeLIE Contemporary, Utrecht 
  • Competition’Turbulences’ in Hesse, Germany 
    International Festival of Experimental Art, ‘Manege’, Sint-Petersburg 
  • ContemporaryESTeeLIE, PRIMAVERA Ahoy Rotterdam 
  • WAD Closer to Delft III, World Art Delft, Delft 
    Pulchri Studio, The Hague
  • Zone Zero – Gallikos River,  Municipality 
  • Exhibition Space, Kilkis, Greece 
  • ‘Agora’, Centro Arto LuPier, Brescia, Italy 
2009 
  • Puchri Studio, The Hague (solo) 
  • Beemster Art Centre, Amsterdam (duo) 
  • Hollandia Gallery, Vlaardingen (solo) 
  • Oosterkerk en Mozes en Aaronkerk, Amsterdam 
  • Galerie van B, Vlaardingen 
  • World Art Delft, Delft 
  • Stedelijk Museum Het Prinsenhof, Delft 
  • Vele Vlaardingen in Een Huis, Vlaardingen (solo) 

Educaton

  • General Art & Design, City College of Manchester, U.K. 1991-1995
  • Member of Pulchri Studio, Artist Association in The Hague
  • Member of Kunstgebouw of South Holland  
  • Member of Kunstwerkt, Schiedam
  • Member of EUMAN Finland
  • Member of Artist Collectief De 13e Maand, Rotterdam

Work experience

  • Teaching in painting and Chinese Calligraphic/Gallery Kadan, The Netherlands, 1998-2000  
  • Teacher and team leader for Project Leentjebeur of City Vlaardingen 2000-2001 
  • Member of PR commission of Puchri Studio, The Hague,  2001-2002 
  • Lectors in University of Hua Nan Shi Fang, Guangzhou, China, 2004-2005      
  • Establisher of Stichting Brains & Hearts, 2006 
  • Design and produce ‘Venetiedocument ZMC”, The Netherlands 2007 
  • ‘Experience China’, workshop voor Olympic team, Arham, 21 June 2007 
  • Project ‘Trouwen & Houwen’, Vlaardingen, 2007-2008 
  • Project ’Identity’, Schiedam, The Netherlands, 2007 
  • Conservator ‘China Show’, Castle Rhoon,  The Netherlands, 2007-2008 
  • Project ‘De Brug naar China’, The Netherlands/China, 2008-2009 
  • Project ‘Made in China’, Vlaardingen, 2009 
  • International Festival of Experimental Art, ‘Manege’, Sint-Petersburg, Russia, 2010 
  • Training course ‘Photography Adventure’, Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, September 2010 
  • Curator-China Tentoonstelling Pulchri Studio, The Hague, The Netherlands, 2011 
  • Curator ’China’, Stichting Kunstwerkt in Pand Paulus, The Netherlands, 2011 
  • Member of Ballotage Commission, Stichting Kunstwerkt, Schiedam, The Netherlands, 2013- 
  • Art Teacher at Seniorwelzijn, Vlaardingen, The Netherlands,  2013 –     


Artistic residencies

2007 
  • The Tyrone Guthrie Centre Annaghmakerrig, Newbliss, Monaghan, Ireland
2005 
  • Invited artist in Resident in Foundation Valparaiso, Spain,  

Symposium

2019 
  • Art symposium in Cappadocia, Turky  
2018
  • Teaching in High Schools in Innsbruck, Austria
  • Art Colony, Rab island, Croatia
  • Art symposium in Pune, India 
2017
  • Land Art Symposium, Livadi, Greece
2016
  • International Painting Symposium, Ayden, Turkey
2015
  • International Paiting Symposium Malownicza Barbarka, Poland
2014 
  • International Culture Art Dailogues, Kusadasi, Turkey
  • IKACA International Knidos Arts Festival, Knidos, Turkey
2011
  • Symbosium 9th Monastir Art Festival, Monastir, Tunesia
2010
  • The 2nd International Art & Science Festival’, UNESCO, Patras, Greece
2008
  • Invited artist in “Talking Compounds II’ International Workshop, Uganda
2009
  • The 1st International Environmental Art Symposium, Thessaloníki, Greece 
  • The 5th WAD International Art Symposium, Delft



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