Guo Zhen

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Born: 1955 China, Shandong ,Rizhao Nationality: Chinese
Name Guo Zhen
Born Guo Zhen born in 1955，China, Shandong ,Rizhao
Nation Chinese
Education Fine Arts Department of the Shandong Art SchoolOld Summer hill School of Art
Known for Visual art, fabrics art, Motherhood
Notable Work Motherhood 2015-2016 Punching bag 2014-2018

Guo Zhen (born in Rizhao, Shandong, China; 1955~) [1]is a Chinese professional painter, artist，curator, and the current president of the American Shunda Company. She is a female ink wash painting artist active in the international art world and a pioneer of American Asian contemporary female ink art[2]. She is a member of the North American Artists Association, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, and a visiting professor of many fine arts universities[3]. Guo Zhen's work is known for its exploration of feminism, introspection, and questioning of patriarchy and other forms of oppression of women[4].

Biography

Guo Zhen (郭桢) was born in Rizhao, Shandong Province, China in 1955 and spent her childhood in China before immigrating to the United States after 1988[1]. She graduated from the Fine Arts Department of the Shandong Art School in 1976. In 1982, she graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of the China Academy of Art, where she chose to stay and work as a faculty member in the Chinese Painting Department. She then went to the United States to study at the Old Summerhill School of Art (1986)[3] and a year later was a visiting scholar at the York University School of Art, University of Canada (1987)[3]. She immigrated to the United States in 1988, where she established Guo Zhen's studio[1][4].

Guo's mother is Zhang shouying (born in 1932), and her father Guo Changfang. There are three children in Guo's family, of which Guo was the oldest [5]. Guo's father was working as the head of the Rizhao Propaganda Department, responsible for cultural programs and education. The failure of Guo's father in China's Cultural Revolution resulted in Guo's family being sent to the countryside. Guo was influenced by her father and stopped going to school at the age of 12. At the age of 14, her parents sent her to a sewing machine factory to learn how to sew, and at the age of 16 she went to a garment factory to become a female laborer [1][5].

Life and Impact

Guo Zhen's early life was rendered by the Cultural Revolution in China. For most of the 20th century, the Cultural Revolution controlled her[1][4]. The artistic content of the Cultural Revolution in early China transmitted the exclusion of women to the outside world[6]. And Guo's family was affected by the Cultural Revolution in many ways, as well as influencing Guo's thinking. Guo said in her interview: “Society didn’t encourage you to think for yourself—to think critically about the status quo. You were supposed to only consider the government and follow the rules it set[7]."

Guo's desire to pursue an Art career was opposed by her father [1][7], so she left her home, secretly took the art exam, and was successfully admitted to Shandong Art School in Jinan, graduating in December 1976 [2][8].

In 1980, Guo met Gu Wenda. In August 1985, Zhen Guo married Gu[9]. Guo gave up her career in stages and became a housewife in the traditional Chinese sense. and came to the United States a year later with her then-husband Gu Wenda[10].

She experienced prolonged physical, emotional, and creative difficulties in the United States in 1986. Due to Guo's husband's financial difficulties, she supported him financially at the expense of her career[9]. At the same time Guo suffered from domestic violence from Gu [5], but since Guo used to living under the feudalistic ideology of China at that time, she believed that it was common for women to be violated and scolded, she chose to hide what she suffered from. Guo's professors, Bruce and Mary, lightened Guo when they found out about the domestic violence she suffered from, and it was the time of the germination of her female mindset[5].

In 1986 Guo was betrayed by her husband and fell into trauma. After a devastating divorce and other traumatic life events, Guo met an American men who was willing to support her. Guo went through a divorce, had a child, remarried, lost her father, lost her mentor, and went through the trauma of 9/11 all in the span of six years[7]. In an effort to free herself from her pain, she mines her life experiences and begins a journey towards feminism and self-empowerment through painting.

Guo had a great admiration for the Chinese ink paintings and calligraphy created by her professor Yu Xining (1913-2007), and Guo was influenced by Yu to study the techniques of Chinese ink painting[1].

Academic Experience

Zhen Guo was forced to leave junior high school at the age of twelve[5], and through her own efforts was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of the Shandong Art School in 1973[2] and graduated in 1976[10]. In 1982, she became a teacher in the Chinese Painting Department of the China Academy of Art [10].

In 1986 she studied at the Old Summer hill School of Art in the United States[3], and in 1987 she was a visiting scholar at the York University School of Art, University of Canada[3], before setting up Guo Zhen's studio in New York in 1988[3]. In 2004, Guo began to curate exhibitions and became a curator [3].

In 1980, Guo created Mother's Love[11], but was criticized by Professor Gu Shengyue, who believed that Guo was conveying political views to the masses[1].Guo said she painted the painting simply to express nature's requirements for mothers to take care of their children.

On February 4, the Chinese American Arts Council presented Zhen Guo with the "Outstanding Asian Artist Award 2022"[12]. The event invited internationally renowned critic and curator Robert C. Morgan to present the "Outstanding Asian Artist" award to artist Guo Zhen.

Goals

In interviews, Guo said that she realized that when women are faced with choices about family, career, and so on, women's sacrifices are considered natural and the common default[13]. No one can deny that it is the physical pain of women that perpetuates human life, that they take on the most basic, primal human suffering to make the greatest creations. Women's consciousness is clear in the artwork that the most resilient and truthful, and the most expansive beauty on earth survives. Guo's goal is to awaken women of their generation and the next through different forms of feminist art. Her work has evolved from flat surfaces to more three-dimensional pieces such as sculptures, sandbags, and installation arts, which she believes are more evocative to the viewer[7].

Fabrics

Guo's famous works Mother (2016) [14]as well as Punching Bag (2018)[15] are presented through textile artworks. Guo's connection with textile art can be traced back to when she was sent to become a female laborer in a textile factory at the age of 12 by her family[5].

In 2015, Guo's style of work changed someway, she has moved stylistically away from folk art to constructing abstract sculptures of human proportions using fabrics, cotton, linen, silk, and leather sewn together[16] She uses breasts to represent the female body and in her work “Mother”, she chooses to use fabric to make breasts, and uses textiles to create different patterns. Guo believes that fabric is also a feminist material that emphasizes the sense of femininity, and presents the softness of the female breasts. She intentionally chose different textures and patterns of floral cloth to symbolize different women[17].

Guo used a unique form of hanging for the Punching Bags, 13 breast-shaped sandbags were hung at slightly different heights from the ceiling. Guo placed boxing gloves next to the Punching bags. Guo wanted to have a direct connection to people's lives through the use of weaving, cotton, and silk as a art medium. Textiles were familiar and felt by people of Guo's time they evoked reflections on the past, and Guo is doing this work for anyone who has a mother[7].

Exhibitions

  • In 2012, May 1 to May 4, Guo 's 16 paintings were exhibited in the 'Guo Zhen. My Heart is Red.' exhibition[18].
  • In 2016, Guo organized Zhen Guo: Chroma Comes from the Margins at the Derfner Judaica Museum, which featured her "Muted Landscape" from 2016 [19]. Using a black and white ink painting style, Guo allows the viewer to experience the oppression of women and the silencing of experiences she has covered up, using ink and watercolor to express femininity and natural landscapes [19].
  • In 2017, Guo exhibited "A Woman Abreast" and major installation, Mother (2016) at Asia Art Center[10], New York, United States. Mother (2016) two major works.
  • In 2018 (Feb 23 - Mar 23), Guo exhibited "Zhen Guo: A Denied Existence" at the Chinese American Art Association Gallery 456[2] and "Existence " in International Women's Art Exhibition in Changsha[20]. Guo’s paintings used to utilize ink and watercolor paintings in a black and white style, as well as graphic paintings, expressing the oppression of women and nature and their experiences of being silenced and erased. Guo uses ink and watercolor to express femininity and natural landscapes. Her artistic practice has expanded to include not only paintings, but also video and installation works,

Reference

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Gail, Levin (2022). "Between Two Worlds: Zhen Guo's Journey to Feminist Art". The Journal of Asian Arts ＆ Aesthetics no. 8.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Contemporary Art: Zhen Guo Art". ZHEN GUO.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 "Zhen Guo". Chinese Feminist Artists Alliance.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Baidu". 华裔女艺术家郭桢在美三场展览同时展出. 2023.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Zhen, Guo (5.22.2021). "郭桢：废墟上站起来的我" (PDF). chinesefeminism. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ Helen, Gao (2017). "How Did Women Fare in China's Communist Revolution?". The NewYork Times.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Rolandelli, Patrick (2018). "Eazel Sits Down with Zhen Guo (Part I)". Eazel.
  8. ↑ "对话女权主义艺术家：郭桢". Art-woman. 2022.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Zhen Guo: Chroma Comes from the Margins". artweek.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Zhen Guo at the Asia Art Gallery (Amerasia Bank)". 2017.
  11. ↑ "ZHEN GUO, Mother's Love 1980 Watercolor on rice paper 68cm X 48cm Artist's collection,"Mother's Love" 1980 Watercolor on rice paper 68cm X 48cm".
  12. ↑ "2022年杰出亚洲艺术家颁奖典礼". Epochtimes. 2022.
  13. ↑ "Existence - the artist says". NIAMH CUNNINGHAM 瑞莲 ARTIST. 2018. |first= missing |last= (help)
  14. ↑ "Zhen Guo Mother". ZHEN GUO.
  15. ↑ "Zhen Guo Punching Bag". ZHEN GUO.
  16. ↑ Robert, Morgan (2018). "The powerful feminist-embodied sculptures of Manhattan artist Zhen Guo". whitehotmagazine.
  17. ↑ "佟玉洁对话郭桢：艺术的理由是将个体生命体验转换为一种社会经验". 2020.
  18. ↑ "Art, music and 'Incidental Matters' at Connecticut College this May". Connecticut College. April 30, 2012.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Grace, Xiao (October 5, 2023). "Zhen Guo Exhibiting At The Derfner Judaica Museum". villageone art.
  20. ↑ "IMBALANCE-Existence". Women in the dark.
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