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19/7/2009

O Zhang

Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver

The Vancouver Art Gallery launched its new outdoor exhibition space, Offsite, with a site-specific installation by Chinese artist O Zhang on July 20, 2009. Offering a rotating program of innovative public art projects by local and international contemporary artists, the new exhibition space in the downtown core allows artists to explore and respond to Vancouver's unique urban environment. Located at the foot of the Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver, near the intersection of Georgia and Thurlow streets, Offsite will present new projects organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery every six months, funded by the City of Vancouver through its Public Art Program.

"Offsite allows the Vancouver Art Gallery to expand its dynamic contemporary art program beyond the walls of the building to engage an even broader audience in new and exciting ways," said Kathleen Bartels, director of the Vancouver Art Gallery. "In this new dynamic space, we will present a wide range of inspiring and provocative work, from photography and sculpture to video and installation, allowing thousands of passersby to encounter the creations of internationally acclaimed artists on a daily basis."

The first artwork to be presented at Offsite will be O Zhang's major photographic installation Horizon (Sky), which is on view until November 29, 2009. For this project, the artist returned to the rural area of her youth in central China to photograph the young village girls who live there. Posing in front of a camera for the first time, the children stare into the lens, returning the gaze of the viewer—unabashed, bold and powerful—while the vibrant colour of the blue sky behind them evokes thoughts of hope and possibility. Enlarged to monumental proportions, the images of the young girls, each photographed on a country hillside, are presented with a strength and individuality not commonly represented in popular media. Zhang's images suggest a positive vision of the future of China and the role that women might play in its transformation, a role that is simultaneously embraced by the artist herself.

Born in Guangzhou, China, O Zhang spent her early childhood in the small village of Jishou in Hunan, where her parents had been relocated during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. After more than six years in Jishou, Zhang returned to Guangzhou to study art at the Guangzhou Children's Palace and Academy of Art Middle School. At 19, Zhang moved to Beijing to attend the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Although she trained as a painter, Beijing was where she first discovered photography, a medium not taught at the Academy. After the completion of her degree in 2000, Zhang moved to London where she earned two Master's degrees in fine arts and photography from the Royal College of Art.

In 2004, Zhang relocated to New York to pursue her art practice full-time. Zhang is the recipient of the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Artist Fellowship and Wilson Center for Photography Fellowship. She is also the winner of the RCA Photography Graduate Award and Fuji Film Student Award. The artist has had solo exhibitions in Beijing, London, Manchester and New York and her work has been featured in group exhibitions throughout Europe, the United State and China. Zhang's work is featured in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, New York; Santa Barbara Museum; Clifford Chance Collection, London and Millennium Monument Art Museum, Beijing. She is currently the first invited artist in residence at the Queens Museum in New York, where she will present a solo exhibition during the fall of 2009.

Offsite: O Zhang is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Daina Augaitis, chief curator/associate director. Offsite is funded by the City of Vancouver through the Public Art Program. The Gallery recognizes Ian Gillespie, president, Westbank Projects Inc., Ben Yeung, president, Peterson Investment Group and the residents at Shangri-la for their support of this project.

Image: Horizon (Sky) [detail], 2009, digital chromogenic print. Courtesy of the artist

Media contact
Andrew Riley, Public Relations Manager, tel 604-662-4722, e-mail ariley@vanartgallery.bc.ca

The Vancouver Art Gallery is a not-for-profit organization supported by: its members; individual donors; corporate funders; foundations; the City of Vancouver; the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and Gaming Revenues; the Government of Canada through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Department of Canadian Heritage. We thank everyone for their continuing generosity.

Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC V6Z 2H7
Gallery Hours
Daily 10 am to 5:30 pm
Tuesday and Thursday until 9 pm

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