“As an artist and philosopher, ‘reality’ and ‘subconscience’ are major themes in Zhong Biao’s works. His goal is to use painting as a medium to challenge the limitations of time and space. – Wei Bo, Art critic (China/USA)
Zhong Biao was born in Chongqing and taught at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. Over the years, he has been classified as a representational character of the “Sichuan Painting Group” of artists. However, Zhong Biao’s works are never specifically attached to any particular genre or idea, but with his own unique painting language and energy field, making them an unforgettable viewing experience.
For an artist, it is vital to form his unique individual art language. At first glance, Zhong Biao’s works can be described as Dreamy & Metaphoric. They are concrete yet at the same time very abstract, featuring history and the future, the real world and spiritual elements. The juxtaposition seem to go against the artist’s overall idea and yet, they are actually one homology. In his ultimate seek between philosophy and science, Zhong Biao casually sways imaginative and penetrating images one by one, capturing an exceptional horizon that is broad yet distinctive in artistic subject. The phenomenal energy flow between the different dimensions and spaces in his works gives birth to countless surprising whimsy.
Zhong Biao tends to work on his creations systematically based on his extensive knowledge of philosophy and science. He calls it the “faith in the truth”; the religious and philosophical concept-forming process paves a path to the ultimate ‘truth’ that he seeks. To him, painting and thinking are two of life’s greatest practices. What always fascinated him was how he could reflect the truth and order behind a certain ideology. It is because of such careful thought process and unique artistic logic that allow Zhong Biao’s works to stand out from his peers and unable to be duplicated. Essentially, he has successfully captured the euphoria of life’s experience.
In 1991, the graduation tour of the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts gave the then 22-year-old a chance to tour 3 ancient Chinese districts within a day, Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi. Mythology and inspirations of past civilization overwhelmed the young artist in a short period of time. “At that moment, I feel that I connected with the history, my 22-year-old physique is simply a reflection of time.”
Zhong Biao subsequently created the series ‘City Passing’, focusing on the concept of our time and space. Today, when we look at this series painted more than 20 years ago, it is astonishing to see that we feel as if we are still in that moment together with the artist, Zhong Biao’s works give us a sense of immortality and made time stood still.
In 1998, at a teahouse besides the Yangtze River, Zhong Biao explored reality through art, seeking for the unseen relation.
In 2005, Zhong Biao discovered that energy is the basis of the universe. His paintings started to have more ambitious scenes reflecting the mystery of this ideology.
In 2008, Zhong Biao moved his studio to Beijing. He came to a new artistic conclusion that subsequently is showcased in all his future works: everything already in existence, only time bring about its formation. His work began to burst out with a theme of ‘powerful chaos’, reflecting swaying brush strokes. Like a grand symphony, they gradually developed an abstract quality with a figurative basis, blurring the boundary of abstract art and figurative art.
In 2009, Zhong Biao completed the masterpiece “Mirage” amidst the global financial crisis . During this period, Zhong Biao enlisted different themes cleverly blended together, such as the major events in human history, the current global concern of terrorism, environmental crisis and other current affairs. It is through the transfer of the audience’s attention from the reality of the circumstances to viewing works of art that the audience can relax their field of vision, triggering us to ponder about the origins of the world.
Who are we? Where do we come from? The proposition of the ancient Greek philosophers is hidden in the view of the non-directivity. The audience see numerous complex scenes of the intertwined, the broken, the metamorphosis, to scenes of life and death in Zhong Biao’s works. Mankind’s existence can be as small as an ant or as powerful as the universe. In 2013, Zhong Biao’s phenomenal artwork installation project in the Venice Cathedral and the Suzhou Museum of Art provided yet another cosmological view of endlessness and interlocking energy.
In 2014, in Zhong Biao multi-dimensional world of energy conversion, he found the secret of vibration frequency and once again painted an impressive recreation of the theme. During his 2015 solo exhibition in New York, Zhong Biao showcased a dynamic series that bathes in the infinity of the universe with rich colors, distinctive strokes and colorful scenes.
“Every moment in the universe is full of information and their mutual relations, but the individual’s life experience is limited by shallow perception which allows us to only receive a very small part called reality.Therefore, the reality of deep subtle multidimensional space and time is our infinite source and destination. ” said Zhong Biao. All the manifestation of image has its own internal motivation and order. And even if we do not see the whole process of energy within the bigger picture, we can take note of the limitations to grasp the wisdom to integration into the order of the universe. This is the ultimate realization that Zhong Biao, through his works, hopes to reflect to the viewer.
