My works focus on interior space, the furniture within them, and still lifes. The still lifes in the paintings are objects found in everyday life. In Dutch classical oil painting, the still life has the function of symbol or decoration. Later painters shifted the focus to form and light. My works explore the harmonious beauty of ordinary daily life and create a calm, subtle, quiet, and peaceful mood. My art combines an important Western theme with Eastern aesthetics and thinking.

The artist Giorgio Morandi believed that nothing is more abstract and unreal than the world that people see. Everything is taken back to its essential reality. I observe and explore the nature of objects as Morandi did, but capturing light and air is also part of my observation. By showing the intangible, I can express the "real" that I want to portray. 

I also appreciate Andrew Wyeth's work and his painting philosophy. He shows the things people see in daily life but in an unfamiliar way. Desaturated color and muted energy evoke a touch of nostalgia. I respond to the sense of distance in his work. I want to paint a space that belongs to me, that implies me, where I find myself which gives the audience a sense of relief and peace.

Bio:

Guangyu Zhang was born in Shanghai, China and works and lives in Philadelphia, PA., in the United States. In her work, Zhang integrates Western traditional realistic oil painting techniques with Eastern aesthetics. Zhang has shown in several exhibitions at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia where she will receive her BFA in 2020, and her MTA in 2021.