Artwork by Yexin/Eureka Zhang will be featured on CCA's official social media channels, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, starting April 29 at 9am PDT. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

For over two thousand years, the Grand Jinghang Canal has influenced the specific features and cultural characteristics of Changzhou, a small southern city next to Shanghai. With its pink wall and black tiles, small bridges over the flowing stream, and people living along the river. The Grand Jinghang Canal is the oldest artificial river in the world linking the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

I remember its bustling trade, where boats would transport wood, rice, fruit, and tea. When I was a little child, my father would take me to antique markets in Changzhou. There I would see traditional Chinese style ink paintings, porcelains, metal statues, and vintage clothing, such as Qipao and Han costumes. As a child I preferred these over toy dolls, and considered this my first experience with the arts.

Southern and SouthEast Chinese aesthetics have their own unique living style and poetic way of thinking, which over time have fused into a contemporary Chinese culture: together, humanism in Confucianism, independent personality in Taoism, and mental freedom in Buddhism. They form a quiet enjoyment and balanced life that cultivate me to pursue a more authentic self. 

In my recent work, I review the origin of my personal pursuit of harmony and Southern and SouthEast Chinese aesthetics by exploring materials and techniques from diverse disciplines, connecting them, and fabricating them into a balanced composition around the imagery of the Grand Jinghang Canal. This exhibition is based on the four basic necessities of life: food, clothing, housing, and transportation of the people living along the Grand Jinghang Canal.

BIO

Fascinated by the truth, goodness, and beauty of our essential being, 

She pays tribute to the abiding charm of nature, 

Bringing rich southern Chinese culture to the world. 

Eureka! Eureka!!! 

Everything begins with the gentle waves in the Grand Jinghang Canal, 

Handmade with metal, textile, Liuli & found objects.

Above: Yexin/Eureka Zhang, The Invitation from Chang Le, 2020. Photographs and Photoshop, 4 x 6 inches.

To view more work by Yexin/Eureka Zhang, visit yzhang454.wixsite.com/cjscz.