House of Egorn

b. 1990, Beijing, China; lives and works in London.

Vivien Zhang is a London-based artist who grew up in China, Kenya, and Thailand. She received her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (London) in 2014 after completing her undergraduate degree at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (London).
Zhang was most recently named on this year’s Forbes 30-Under-30 Asia list. She is the current recipient of the prestigious Abbey Award 2016-17 at the British School at Rome, where she will be working until July 2017.
Context-specific motifs and objects float on abstract grounds. Organised in systems based on different layers of material, the objects in Zhang’s paintings are dissociated from historical time and geographical locations. Their juxtapositions and configurations follow algorithms found in digital imaging softwares – an approach by-product of our ways of reading and engagement with visual material today.
Repetition also plays a large role in the construction of Zhang’s work. Within the repetitive fields, motifs are allowed to intersect and offer points of interruption. A balancing act of reproduction, the digital, and the handmade is evermore present in Zhang’s work. New hierarchies and distances are constantly negotiated on the painting surface.

EXHIBITIONS

2018
Art Rotterdam, New Art Section curated by Patrick Haas, House of Egorn, Rotterdam (solo)

2017
Digital Natives, The Ryder Projects, London (duo)
Referencing Alexander Calder, Klein Sun Gallery, New York (group)
Group Presentation, Art Basel, Basel
High Noon ,(curated by Adrienne Drake, Sarah Linford, and Donatella Saroli), Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Rome, (group)
June Mostra, British School at Rome, Rome (group)
Solo Presentation, Monteverdi, Tuscany
Solo Presentation, MiArt, Milan
Art021, Long March Space, Shanghai
March Mostra, British School at Rome, Rome (group)
All As Long Distance Neighbours, Soyuz, Pescara (group)

2016
Trembling Surfaces, Long March Space, Beijing (group)
December Mostra 2016, British School at Rome, Rome (group)
South of Meaning, House of Egorn, Berlin (Duo)
Cue Collision, House of Egorn, London (group)
Cavity Drift: Vivien Zhang, Galerie Huit, Hong Kong (solo)
Sunny Side Up!, Rook & Raven, London (group)
Beyond Borders, in aid of UNICEF Next Generation, Blain|Southern, London (group)
PAPER | PUBLICATION | PERFORMANCE, Lychee One, London (group)

2015
Vivien Zhang | Surf the Anodyne | The Chadwell Award 2014-15 Exhibition, PSW, The Rum Factory, London (solo)
Deeper Bite: Teresita Dennis | Vivien Zhang, Lychee One, London (duo)
Booth presentation, Art Central, Hong Kong (duo)
Visions from a New Generation (in collaboration with Swarovski), Lane Crawford, Shanghai (group)
Repeat | Spiral , Renke Gallery, Hangzhou (group)
East London Painting Prize 2015 , The Rum Factory, London (group)
Mapping in Memory , House of Egorn, Berlin (group)

2014
Laurence Owen | Vivien Zhang, Rook & Raven, London (duo)
A New Circle, Forbidden City Gallery, Shanghai (group)
Saatchi New Sensations 2014, Victoria House, London (group)
RCA Show 2014, Royal College of Art, London (group)
Saatchi Showdown In Glorious Colour, Griffin Gallery, London (group)

2013
PNTG NOV., Henry Moore Gallery, Royal College of Art, London (group)
Scratch, It‘s Easy, Camden Collective, London (group)
Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Museum, Wells (group)
ASYAAF (Asian Students and Young Artists Art Festival), Cultural Station 284, Seoul (group)
Notes to Self - Thinking aloud and making moves, Royal College of Art, London (group)

2012
World Event Young Artists 2012 (representing UK Young Artists), Surface Gallery, Nottingham (group)
The Boat of 2012 – Annual Nomination Exhibition for Students of Contemporary Art Academies, Today Art Museum, Beijing (group)
Slade School of Fine Art BA Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, London (group)

AWARDS & SCHOLARSHIPS

2016
Awardee, Abbey Award Scholarship for the British School at Rome
2015
Shortlisted, East London Painting Prize
2014
Shortlisted, Saatchi New Sensations
Awardee, Chadwell Award
Winner, Riverlight Award (award by St James Group, the Royal College of Art and Futurecity)
Awardee, Drake’s (London) design collaboration: limited edition silk pocket square design 2nd Place Winner, Saatchi Showdown In Glorious Colour
Shortlisted, 3rd International Emerging Artist Award, Dubai
2013
Shortlisted, Wells Art Contemporary (judges: Bruce McLean, Dan Hays and Prof Richard Wentworth CBE)

TEXTS & PUBLICATIONS

2017
"Vivien Zhang”, Elephant Magazine, http://www.houseofegorn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/selection-10.pdf, Spring 2017
"10 Artists on the Art They Want to See in 2017”, Amuse: https://amuse-i-d.vice.com/10-artists-on-the-art-they-want-to-see-in-2017/, January 2017

2016
“Hans Ulrich Obrist in Conversation About Inventing New Languages”, Sleek Magazine, http://www.sleek-mag.com/2016/12/02/hans-ulrich-obrist-zhang-jeppesen-miralda/, December 2016.
“House of Egorn: Vivien Zhang and Travis Jeppesen”, Randian, http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=990b73d0d304c578f6f879635&id=61006c0ce4&e=b4c6f0f338, November 2016.
“Cue Collision at House of Egorn London Lounge, Herald Street”, ELEPHANT magazine, https://elephantmag.com/cue-collision-house-egorn-london-lounge-herald-street/
“Cue Collision”, ART.ZIP, http://www.artzip.org/cue-collision.
Alan Chan, Exhibition Review: Vivien Zhang, AM Post, Issue 119, 34-35.
“Her Orchestra: Vivien Zhang, an interview with Monica Chung”, Issue 119, 34/35.
ART.ZIP, Issue 15,153-156.
Artist Spotlight, Boooooom: http://www.booooooom.com/2016/03/22/artist-spotlight-vivi en-zhang/
Man-Ying Ho, Feature article, Master-Insight Weekly (founder: Man Cheuk Fei), http:// www.master-insight.com/content/article/6405.
Anny Wu and Giorgia Papaleo, “YCCA – Vivien Zhang”, Web of Modern Art: http://www. webofmodernart.com/ycca-vivien-zhang/.

2015
Yana Peel, “Changing Faces”, Porter Magazine, Issue 12, 81.
“Stories of Creative Souls: Into the Studio of Vivien Zhang”, Polysh Magazine: http:// thepolysh.com/blog/2015/12/06/vivien-zhang-interview/.
“Two Emerging Painters at Hong Kong’s Art Central Put Pattern in the Crosshairs”, Artsy Editorial: https://www.artsy.net/article/editorial-two-emerging-painters-at-hong-kongs- art, March 2015.Chyzhykova, Stas, “Emerging Asian Artists to Discover at Art Central”, Artsy, https://www.artsy.net/article/stanislava-chyzhykova-emerging-asian-artists-to-dis cover-at-art.

2014
“Two Young London Artists Explore the Depths of Transparency and Space”, Artsy Editorial, https://artsy.net/post/editorial-two-young-london-artists-explo re-the-depths.
Martian Sunsets are Blue: Royal College of Art Painting Catalogue 2014, Kenilworth: Emmerson Press.
Aesthetica Anthology 2014, Aesthetica Magazine, York.

EDUCATION

2012-2014 MA in Painting, Royal College of Art (London)
2008-2012 BA in Fine Art – First Class Honours, Slade School of Fine Art, UCL (London)