Artist Xinyu Zhang

Xinyu Zhang - Artist Statement

Wavering between my love of Chinese cut-paper and my appreciation of western art concepts, I want my cut-paper to use my unique language – the language of a Chinese artist who received her art training in the west – to express my thinking about life. With a hard struggle, I gave up the core of traditional paper cutting – representational art. I select abstract expression. My cut-paper ends at a universal generic graphic – the circle. Numerous circles, different sizes of circles, and layers of circles, they are the rhythm of my paper cutting. Circle, it means nothing or everything; it means stop or endless; it means emptiness or richness. It means all to me. The cutting process is also a part of my art concept. Cutting circle is the process of how the beginning meets the end. It reminds me of how the human life and the world circulate. Cutting a perfect circle is not an easy thing. The knife starts from a point and has to end up exactly at the same point to create a perfect circle. In this process, a single error could spoil the whole piece. I have to make great efforts to achieve a perfect circle, one by one, until the paper is filled with circles. Is this a meaning of a life? I ask this question to myself when I cut the paper. I continue ask this question to the audiences who appear in front of my cutting paper.

Resume

Education

2005 M.F.A., School of Arts, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

1984 Bachelor of Law, International Politics, Peking University, Beijing, China

Exhibitions

Group:

2007 Arizona Aqueous XXII, Tubac Center of the Art, Tubac, AZ
2007 Abstract Paintings on Rice Paper, DeGrazia Little Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2007 Circles - Cut Paper, Tucson International Airport Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 Wrinkles in Time, Tucson International Airport Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2005 MFA Thesis Exhibit, Museum of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2004 27th VisCom Show, Lionel Rombach Gallery, Tucson, AZ

Awards

2007 Annual Jan Lipartito Historical Remembrance Writing Contest
2006 Artist Career Advancement Grant, Arizona Commission on the Art
2006 Artist mini fund, Tucson Pima Art Council
2005 Alltel Fund for the Arts
2005 Graduate College Fund for MFA Thesis Exhibition
2004 Second Place: International Competition for the Design of Chongqing’s Visual Identity System
2004 Medici Scholarship
2004 John Conaway Scholarship
2001 Best Book Design of 2000 (China Social Sciences Press, Beijing)
2000 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Award (Beijing)
1994 National Book Award (Beijing)
1993 China Book Award (Beijing)

Professional Experience

2004-present Web/Graphic Designer, Cooperative Extension, University of Arizona
1986-2002 Graphic Designer, Editor, China Social Sciences Press, Beijing, China

Publications

2007 Desert Leaf - Xinyu Zhang: Poetry in Motion by Lorraine A. DarConte, May
2006 KUAT - Chinese Paper Art by Sooyeon Lee, November



	Xinyu Zhang - Artist Statement Wavering between my love of Chinese cut-paper and my appreciation of western art concepts, I want my cut-paper to use my unique language – the language of a Chinese artist who received her art training in the west – to express my thinking about life. With a hard struggle, I gave up the core of traditional paper cutting – representational art. I select abstract expression. My cut-paper ends at a universal generic graphic – the circle. Numerous circles, different sizes of circles, and layers of circles, they are the rhythm of my paper cutting. Circle, it means nothing or everything; it means stop or endless; it means emptiness or richness. It means all to me. The cutting process is also a part of my art concept. Cutting circle is the process of how the beginning meets the end. It reminds me of how the human life and the world circulate. Cutting a perfect circle is not an easy thing. The knife starts from a point and has to end up exactly at the same point to create a perfect circle. In this process, a single error could spoil the whole piece. I have to make great efforts to achieve a perfect circle, one by one, until the paper is filled with circles. Is this a meaning of a life? I ask this question to myself when I cut the paper. I continue ask this question to the audiences who appear in front of my cutting paper. Resume Education 2005 M.F.A., School of Arts, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 1984 Bachelor of Law, International Politics, Peking University, Beijing, China Exhibitions Group: 2007 Arizona Aqueous XXII, Tubac Center of the Art, Tubac, AZ 2007 Abstract Paintings on Rice Paper, DeGrazia Little Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2007 Circles - Cut Paper, Tucson International Airport Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2006 Wrinkles in Time, Tucson International Airport Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2005 MFA Thesis Exhibit, Museum of Art, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2004 27th VisCom Show, Lionel Rombach Gallery, Tucson, AZ Awards 2007 Annual Jan Lipartito Historical Remembrance Writing Contest 2006 Artist Career Advancement Grant, Arizona Commission on the Art 2006 Artist mini fund, Tucson Pima Art Council 2005 Alltel Fund for the Arts 2005 Graduate College Fund for MFA Thesis Exhibition 2004 Second Place: International Competition for the Design of Chongqing’s Visual Identity System 2004 Medici Scholarship 2004 John Conaway Scholarship 2001 Best Book Design of 2000 (China Social Sciences Press, Beijing) 2000 Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Award (Beijing) 1994 National Book Award (Beijing) 1993 China Book Award (Beijing) Professional Experience 2004-present Web/Graphic Designer, Cooperative Extension, University of Arizona 1986-2002 Graphic Designer, Editor, China Social Sciences Press, Beijing, China Publications 2007 Desert Leaf - Xinyu Zhang: Poetry in Motion by Lorraine A. DarConte, May 2006 KUAT - Chinese Paper Art by Sooyeon Lee, November





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