LOUISE ZHANG // FROM OLD GROUND

Louise Zhang_Here for more than a few moons (detail)_2015

Louise Zhang has been invited to participate in From Old Ground at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery. 

Coinciding with the 2015 Bicentenary celebrations of the colonial settlement of Bathurst, From Old Ground commemorates the Central West region’s early Chinese migrant history and features the work of four Australian and Chinese artists, Jason Phu, Louise Zhang, Ren Hang and Jess Bradford.

Producing specially commissioned work spanning ink painting, installation, video and photography, each of the artists engages with the fragmented narratives and silent monuments of this important chapter in Bathurst’s social, cultural and economic history.

Louise Zhang_Here for more than a few moons (detail)_2015

Louise Zhang revisits the landscape of Golden Gully, located between Hill End and Tambaroora, where Chinese alluvial gold miners were particularly successful around the 1850s. Once a centre of social and economic activity, the landscape now lies dormant, with only subtle traces of Chinese miners’ circular shafts-silent monuments to the site’s past life. 

Zhang recasts Golden Gully’s distinctive natural and human-made rock formations and orifices in acrylic paint, foam, plaster, polyurethane and resin. The fragments that result are presented as quasi-geological specimens, frozen in time yet bursting with the energy of a bygone era. 

Louise Zhang_Here for more than a few moons (detail)_2015

Louise Zhang_Here for more than a few moons (detail)_2015

Curator Joanna Bayndrian says: “This is a timely opportunity to uncover the lesser-known stories of a formative period in Australia’s history. These newly commissioned works focus on the remnant narratives of Chinese migration in the Central West. Collectively they actively shift the memory of the region’s Chinese heritage from the sideline, to the centre of public imagination. Importantly, From Old Ground acknowledges the historical depth of the cultural diversity that we celebrate today.”

From Old Ground has been funded by Museums & Galleries NSW’s Curatorial Support Initiative in partnership with 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, Sydney. The exhibition runs from 27 November 2015 until 24 January 2016.

LOUISE ZHANG // #THETHINGSILOVE❤

Image courtesy of Daniel Boud and Carriageworks

Louise Zhang was recently invited to participate in #TheThingsILove❤, a photographic project by Daniel Boud, commissioned by Carriageworks and BresicWhitney.

#TheThingsILove❤ celebrates the act of collecting - a universal fascination with art, objects, fashion, colour and history.

The project features the collections of Abdul Abdullah (artist), William Yang (artist), Penelope Seidler (architect), Deborah Sams and Mary Lou Ryan (of Bassike), Kylie Kwong (chef), Will Edwards (of Archie Rose), Elizabeth Tillman (of TEES), Rarriwuy Hick (actor), Louise Zhang (artist) and Julian Day (artist and journalist).

LOUISE ZHANG // MCA ARTBAR

Pink Malk, 2015, children's pool, polyurethane foam and plastic, plastic tubes, acrylic,
 enamel, PVA glue, synthetic, strawberry oil fragrance, water pumps, Dimensions variable.

This October MCA's ARTBAR: Dystopia will be curated by artist trio Hissy Fit and will feature the work of Artereal artist Louise Zhang.

Zhang's work "Pink Malk" uses strawberry milk in lieu of water to create a fountain that is at once sickly sweet and grotesque.

Be mesmerized and entranced by the pink milk as its pumped through the fountain, zen out, remember your primary schoolyard days, or just marvel at the wonderful mind that is Louise Zhang!

ARTBAR: Dystopia will also involve- 

Justin Shoulder’s full face and body sculptures; blurring the line between ‘worn’ and ‘performed’. 

performance-lecture by Giselle Stanborough 

Play up schoolyard nostalgia with Louise Zhang’s strawberry milk fountain artwork 

DJ Sveta and The Smuts serve music on the rooftop terrace 

live art and installations from Toby K, Kelly Doley, Salote Tawale and more 

"Pink Malk" was originally part of an exhibition entitled A robot attempts to eat a chicken nugget held at Firstdraft Gallery earlier this year featuring Tully Arnot, Josh Harle, Jason Phu, Louise Zhang with curator Luke Letourneau.

FISHER'S GHOST ART PRIZE...

Shoufay Derz_King for a Day (Stripped)_2015. Photograph by Zan Wimberley.

Congratulations to Liam Benson, Shoufay Derz, George Raftopoulos and Louise Zhang, all of whom are finalists in the 2015 Fisher's Ghost Art Prize...

Liam Benson is a finalist in the Open Category for his recent video work 'Fortitudine' as well as a finalist in the Contemporary Category for his work 'Ned Kelly Red Gum; Hypercolour'.

Shoufay Derz is a finalist in the Open Category for her work 'King for a Day (Stripped)',  as is George Raftopouolos for his work 'My Australian History - A Migrant's Tale'.

Louise Zhang is a finalist in the Drawing and Printmaking Category for her work 'Flotsam' as well as in the Sculpture Category for her work 'I went to mars and the isolation and red speckled solar winds eroded my sanity and it was beautiful'.

The winner of each category will be announced on Friday 6 November at Campbelltown Arts Centre.

Artereal Gallery X Sydney Contemporary 2015

Image: Anna Carey, Hi Sky, 2014, digital print, edition of 7, 80 x 120cm

Artereal Gallery is thrilled to announce its involvement in Australasia’s international art fair, Sydney Contemporary 15, taking place 10-13 September at Carriageworks. Marking its continuing involvement in the Fair since its 2013 inception, this year, Artereal Gallery will present a dynamic group exhibition featuring artworks by Liam Benson, Anna Carey, Shoufay Derz, Stevie Fieldsend, Sam Holt, Owen Leong, Jess MacNeil, Gian Manik and Louise Zhang. 

The exhibition will include a diverse cross section of artistic practices, crossing both two and three-dimensional, and disciplines as varied as photography, mixed media, painting, sculpture and installation. 

Outside of its stand, Artereal Gallery is also thrilled to see a number of exhibiting artists invited to participate in both Performance Contemporary and Video Contemporary. 

Liam Benson has been invited to perform at the Opening Night as part of Performance Contemporary, a new exhibition sector for 2015 and curated by artists and creative enablers, Emma Price and Connie Anthes. Performance Contemporary places a dynamic and diverse program of performance art within the Fair and the Redfern Precinct. 

Meanwhile, Anna Carey, Liam Benson and Shoufay Derz have been invited to present their moving-image artworks as part of Video Contemporary, which showcases an exciting and diverse selection of video works by artists at the forefront of their field. Video Contemporary is curated by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and presented by Samsung. 

Housed at Carriageworks, Sydney’s striking contemporary arts precinct, the Fair presents over 90 galleries from 13 countries, offering visitors access to cutting-edge art from some of the world’s most respected artists as well as the opportunity to discover the next generation of emerging talent.

Sydney Contemporary boasts five days of public programs, appealing to the experienced, the novice, the discerning art enthusiast and those simply curious about buying and living with art. Programming includes guided tours, educational workshops, kids activities, guest speakers and an extensive VIP Program.

Having attracted over 28,000 collectors, industry professionals and the art-loving public to the inaugural edition in 2013, Sydney Contemporary 2015 is set to be one of the most celebrated events on Australia’s cultural calendar.

LIAM BENSON, SAM HOLT + LOUISE ZHANG // Firstdraft Auction 2015

Louise Zhang, Gurl, 2015, acrylic oil resin glitter polyurethane on canvas, 90x60cm

Artereal Gallery artists, Liam Benson, Sam Holt + Louise Zhang are amongst a multitude of other emerging and established contemporary Australian artists who have donated an artwork to the hugely popular Firstdraft Auction 2015, taking place Friday 31 July 2015 in their Woolloomooloo space. 

The highly anticipated event is a crucial fundraising initiative for the organisation, a great way to support the emerging arts community and acquire work by some of Australia's most exciting and collectable artists. This year, over 100 artworks will be available by silent and live auction. 

The exhibition will be open to silent bids from 12pm Thursday 30 July, culminating in an official launch event on Friday 31 July, during which silent bidding will conclude, and the live auction of selected works will commence. 

A ROBOT ATTEMPTS TO EAT A CHICKEN NUGGET...

A ROBOT ATTEMPTS TO EAT A CHICKEN NUGGET...

Tully Arnot, Josh Harle, Jason Phu, Louise Zhang are a new collaborative partnership founded as an outlet for slop and punking. Welcome to hell.

Discharge everywhere.

This is an exhibition revelling in the mess our creations make. Everything is moist. It is dripping, seeping, pooling from every crevice. In this exhibition, capacity never matches ambition.

Robots: they came for your jobs, now they want your lives.

Tully Arnot investigates human relationships with technology. The artist creates an ‘uncanny residue’ of object-life that may change how we see everyday objects outside the gallery. More recently this has been imbuing objects with behavioural patterns using microprocessors and servos.

Josh Harle’s practice focuses on subverting the rationalising drive of technology; anthropomorphizing the actions of robots to present them as quixotic and performative.

Jason Phu presents irreverent, starkly uncompromising views of human nature, and works with inanimate objects to caricature them as grotesque figures.

Louise Zhang deals with the ambiguity of the ‘blob'; mutable, in opposition to the ordered and rectilinear rational world, but potentially monstrous and cancerous; the leakage as a breakdown of control; pastel coloured goop that can be both attractive and repulsive.

Curated by Luke Letourneau. (Showing at Firstdraft until 24 July, 2015).

LOUISE ZHANG WINS YEN FEMALE ARTIST AWARD!!

Louise Zhang_'...it came from Goo Lagoon'_2015

Congratulations to Louise Zhang, winner of the 2015 Yen Female Artist Award! 

Louise Zhang was announced as the winner of the Award, which is presented by Staedtler, at the exhibition opening at Gaffa Gallery last night. Zhang was awarded the prize for her painting '...it came 

from Goo Lagoon'.

Yen has a strong tradition of supporting women across all fields but particularly those in the creative arts Now in its second year, the Yen Art Awards is back to bring you the best in home-grown female artistic talent.

An exhibition of all of the finalist's work can be seen at Gaffa Gallery until 22 June 2015.

LOUISE ZHANG // Yen STAEDTLER Female Art Awards and two group exhibitions

Artist Louise Zhang is interviewed in her studio in a short film edited and produced for Artereal Gallery by Fergus Wilson

It's been a busy few months for Artereal Gallery artist Louise Zhang, who is showing work in our current exhibition, Paint15, alongside Adrian Hobbs, Adam Turnbull and Yioryios.

This week, the artist has been announced a finalist in the Yen STAEDTLER Female Art Awards 2015. Louise joins 19 other finalists, selected from over 600 entries. The winner will be announced on 11 June.

She will also be part of two group exhibitions at Casula Powerhouse and Penrith Regional Gallery, both which open to the public in late May and June.

Opening Friday 22 May 2015, Louise Zhang is included in the exhibition entitled Biggie Smalls at Casula Powerhouse. She will also have work included in a group exhibition entitled RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW, at Penrith Regional Gallery, which opens Saturday 6 June and continues until 23 August 2015. RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW seeks to introduce twenty Sydney artists who confront, challenge and agitate the traditions of painting to create bold, witty and unexpected results.

Most recently, Artereal Gallery commissioned videographer Fergus Wilson to produce a short film about Louise and her work, which you can view in the video above.

LOUISE ZHANG // in group show at TWENTY THIRTY SEVEN

 

Louise Zhang, GHOST GLAZER DREAM EATER, 2013

Artist Louise Zhang will show a selection of paintings as part of a group show at TWENTY THIRTY SEVEN,  a new gallery space in Glebe.

Opening Thursday 26 February at 6.00PM, the exhibition will run until 29 February, open every day during the hours of 12-5.00PM.

Other artists in the show include David Attwood, Priscilla Bourne, Will Cooke, James Dodd, Matthew Greeves, Jesse Hogan, Leahlani Johnson, Ben Leslie, Rohan Schwartz and Sam Songailo.

Louise Zhang will also form part of a group exhibition, entitled PAINT15, taking place at Artereal Gallery this May.

LOUISE ZHANG / ARCHIVE SPACE PRESENTS INVESTIBLE CONTEMPORARY ART ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

Image: Louise Zhang; GHOST GLAZER DREAM EATER, 2013, acrylic, oil, enamel and resin on birch wood, 50 x 50cm

The excellent Artist Run Initiative, Archive_, will host its second Investible Contemporary Art Annual fundraiser - ICAA2014: Take Home Archive - on Monday 22 December, where guests will be able to place a silent bid on artworks by more than 30 emerging artists, including Artereal artist Louise Zhang.

Louise Zhang's practice is informed by an ongoing fascination with the thin divide that separates the 'monstrous' from the 'cute', using the form of the 'blob' as a vehicle for expressions and explorations. This August, she was part of joint exhibition SUGARCOATED REALNESS with Terrence Combos at Archive_ and will be part of PAINT15, a group exhibition at Artereal Gallery in May 2015.

As part of Take Home Archive, Zhang joins a host of other artists, including 110% (Kieran Bryant, Beth Dillon & Lachlan Herd), Connie Anthes, Jess Bradford, Sophie Clague, Chanelle Collier, Terrence Combos, Jack Condon, Justin Cooper, Katherine Corcoran, Kathryn Cowen, Tamara Elkins, Rebecca Gallo, Max Gosling, David Greenhalgh, Hana Hoogedeure, Biljana Jancic, Rebecca Karageorgos, Mason Kimber, Amber Koroluk-Stephenson, Gillian Lavery, David Manley, Tom Mason, Ramesh Mario Nithiyendran, Nadia Odlum, Jason Phu, Madeleine Preston, Alex Pye, Chris Ross, Lisa Sammut, Jim Shirlaw, Sasanki Tennakoon, Jack Stahel, Kai Wasikowski, Angela Welyczko, Joe Wilson and more to be announced.

ARCHIVE_ ICAA2014: Take Home Archive

Monday 22 December 2014, 6PM

6.00-9.00PM

5 Eliza Street, Newtown 

LOUISE ZHANG / CHINESE WHISPERS

Louise Zhang_HONEYED ORIFICES AND A PIT OF EASE_2014_acrylic and oil on canvas_120 x 90cm 

   Louise Zhang_AND THEN IT KIND OF HAPPENED_2014_acrylic and oil on canvas_120 x 90cm

"Remember playing Chinese Whispers? 

What happens when you send a whisper around a group of Chinese artists and ask them to create an artwork according to what they think they heard? 

An exhibition of newly created artworks which could take a turn in any direction."

From 12 December 2014 - 31 January 2015, Louise will be exhibiting in a group exhibition Chinese Whispers, at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery.

Featuring 12 Chinese artists, including Kevin Chin, John Deng, Fan Dangwang, Li Cui, Tracy Luff, Kaye Mahoney, Pamela Mei Leng See, Guan Wei, Jason Wing, Huihai Xie, and Tianli Zu; the exhibition draws inspiration from the childhood game, in which a whisper is sent around the group of artists, and they are challenged to create an artwork according to what they think they heard.

LOUISE ZHANG / SYDNEY PAINTING NOW

Image: Louise Zhang, THE URGENCY OF PHWOARR, 2014, acrylic, oil and enamel on canvas, 100 x 76.5cm

Artereal artist Louise Zhang has this month been selected for inclusion in the group show, SYDNEY PAINTING NOW, which opened on Wednesday night at MOP projects and Galerie pompom.

The show, which aims to present a cross-section of current painting practice in Sydney, was separated into two distinct parts. Hosted by MOP, part one included work selected by the MOP Projects committee and volunteer team, who each selected their favourite Sydney painter, culminating in work from nine different artists.

Selected for part one, Louise Zhang's work, 'THE URGENCY OF PHWOARR' joins work from other Sydney artists Jess Bradford, Matthew Busteed, Dale Frank, Belem Lett, Genevieve Felix Reynolds, Katie Williams, Paul Williams and Meng-Yu Yan.

Part two of the exhibition is held at Gallery pompom and includes a group of 13 represented and invited artists including: Ron Adams, Kylie Banyard, Lynne Barwick, Monika Behrens, Leo Coyte, Hayley Megan French, Rochelle Haley, Mason Kimber, Nana Ohnesorge, Samuel Quinteros, Nicola Smith, Phil Aston Williams and Christine Dean.

Sydney Painting Now is on until 7 December 2014.

FISHER’S GHOST ART AWARD 2014 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Image: Louise Zhang, ooOOoo, 2014, expanding foam, plaster, clay, acrylic and resin, 30 x 75 x 50 cm

A huge congratulations to Shoufay Derz, Stevie Fieldsend, Hayden Fowler, Hyun-Hee Lee, Cyrus Tang and Louise Zhang, who have been shortlisted for the Fisher’s Ghost Art Award 2014.

Now in it's 52nd year, the Award is a highlight of the annual Festival of Fisher’s Ghost, with prize money reaching in excess of $40,000. The major prize is the open award and the winning artist is awarded $20,000, with their work becoming part of the Centre’s permanent collection. The Art Award is open to any artist, Australia wide with the option of entering up to two works of art in a number of categories.

Shoufay Derz was shortlisted for her works Golden Boat and Quarry, Hyun-Hee Lee for her work Secrets, and Cyrus Tang for her works Algernon and Momentary Glean.

Louise Zhang was shortlisted for a sculpture entitled ooOOoo and a painting entitled Vermiform Steaks that continue her investigation into the thin divide that separates the ‘monstrous’ from the ‘cute’.

Hayden Fowler was shortlisted for his works New Romantic I & ii (from series of 5) and New World Order. Stevie Fieldsend has been shortlisted for her visually arresting sculpture made from glass and wood, entitled CAUTER.

All shortlisted entries will be on display as part of an annual exhibition from 25 October to 14 December, 2014 within Campbelltown City Council.

LOUISE ZHANG JOINS STANLEY KUBRICK IN GROUP SHOW ‘NO WERK’

 Louise Zhang, Ghost Glazer Dream Eater, 2013, Acrylic, oil, enamel and resin on birchwood, 50 x 50cm

Louise Zhang is currently exhibiting work in No Werk, a group show at Melbourne’s Trocadero Art Space, on display from 3-20 September 2014. Curated by Ace Wagstaff, the show experiments with the notion of ‘the work’ and ‘the curator’ by bringing together not works, but images of works all sourced online, including artists, like Zhang, to cinematic greats, like Stanley Kubrick.

Ace Wagstaff explains: “The premise of NO WERK sought images from artists of their work, but not their actual work, it also asked them to willingly relinquish control of the representation of their work and bear the brunt of unknown curatorial whim. The second gallery will be comprised entirely of images of artwork found openly on the Internet by artists whose permission was not gained prior to the exhibition.”

Zhang gave Wagstaff permission to include an image of her work in the show, which is on display alongside a selection of other artists who granted Wagstaff permission, including: Geoff Lowe and Jacqueline Riva, Kate Carey Peters, Tim Andrew, Terrence Combos, Peter Aitkens, Michael Prior, Kate Tucker, Nabilah Nordin, Joanna Anderson, Bill Noonan, Louise Blyton, Lila Afiouni, Lois Hopwood, Rachel Schenberg, Yoek, Leanne Kim, Yvette Coppersmith, Adrian Stojkovich, Nicholas Ives, Jordan Marani and Lucy James. 

The exhibition also includes images of work sourced from the Internet without permission from: Richard Prince, Sean Bailey, Matthew Collings, Tom Polo, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Ivor Lovheim, Claudia Dance-Wells and Josef Zachary Shanley Jackson, Ciarrai MacCormac, Jessica Simorte, Antonio del Pollaiolo, Grant Nimmo, and Stanley Kubrick. 

No Werk runs at Trocadero Art Space from 3 September – 20 September. For more, please visit http://www.trocaderoartspace.com.au/ and to see more of the artist’s work, please visit http://www.artereal.com.au/home/louise-zhang.

LOUISE ZHANG + TERRENCE COMBOS / ARCHIVE SPACE

Louise Zhang_HURLY BURLY_2014_Acrylic and oil on birch wood_30cm diameter 

Louise Zhang is currently exhibiting new works as part of a joint exhibition, entitled Sugarcoated Realness, with Sydney-based artist Terrence Combos at Archive Space.

"Primarily through the lens of painting, Combos and Zhang manufacture constructed camouflages that conflate both the jovial and the unsettling. Colour, form and materiality are the basis of an elaborate ruse that conjures the essence of playfulness while addressing issues of otherness, grotesqueness, incompetence and self-deprecation." 

Sugarcoated Realness runs until 23 August 2014 at Archive Space in Newtown.

LOUISE ZHANG / PITCH ZINE

Louise Zhang_DUCK FACE_2014_acrylic, oil and enamel on canvas_30 x 30cm

Louise Zhang has been featured in Pitch Zine, an online independent publication focusing on emerging fashion, art and design.

"I like the intersection between attractive and repulsive and how you get the simultaneous pull of these different elements at the same time." - Louise Zhang

Louise's current exhibition at Artereal, Plomp is her first solo show; and showcases a sample of her multidisciplinary practice spanning painting, sculpture and installation. Her work explores an ongoing fasciation with the medium of paint and the ways in which it can be manipulated to create works which investigate and challenge the thin divide which separates the ‘monstrous’ from the ‘cute’.

To read the Pitch Zine article, click here.

To see more of Louise Zhang's works, click here.