Born Shanghai, China
Lives and works in State College, Pennsylvania
I was raised in Shanghai, China during the Cultural Revolution. After high school, I was sent to a farm along with millions of young students by the government for almost three years. In 1977, the first year that China recovered its college education system, I attended the Shanghai Normal University and majored in oil painting. After graduating I taught at the same university. I received my MFA from the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing in 1987. In 1989 I was part of the controversial first China Avant-Garde art show at Beijing's National Fine Art Museum. I also participated in many exhibitions held at the Beijing and Shanghai Fine Art Museums.
In 1989, I attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and immigrated to America. I lived in New York for nearly 20 years, and currently reside in State College, Pennsylvania.
Statement
My paintings deal with my memories and experiences of dual histories, one of my native country, China, during the Cultural Revolution, and the other of my subsequent journey in America, where I currently reside. I am interested in the dynamics between exterior systems and inner dialogue, material person and soul, high and low culture, and further coexisting, conflicting elements. Certain images, such as ones rooted in construction, detritus, ritual, subtle violence, and ambivalence are a way to reference the social effects of multiple cultures and changes associated with economic development and industrialization, yet also act as metaphors for an individual experience. I pull from my archive of images, taken from my own photographs, and synthesize the separate components into a new “reality” in an ambiguous space. Each painting is a build up of moments from an individual narrative into a constructed whole, after my slow digestion of collective histories.
CV
Education
1989 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine
1987 MFA, Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China
1982 BFA, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
Solo Exhibitions
1999 Yale University, CT
1998 Middle Tennessee State University, TN
1990 Z Gallery, New York
Group Exhibitions
2019 Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Japan
Satellite Art Show, Miami
Saatchi Art's The Other Fair, Brooklyn, NY
Satellite Art Show, Brooklyn, NY
2018 Miao Art Space, Shanghai, China
2009 Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai, China
2006 Gallery North, New York
1996 Asian American Arts Center, New York
1994 Gallery at Park West, New York
1993 Sudderth Art International, Florida
1990 Muse Gallery, Massachusetts
1989 National Fine Art Museum, Beijing, China
Galerie Werner Milletin, Germany
1988 Shanghai Fine Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1987 Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, China
1986 National Fine Art Museum, Beijing, China
1985 National Fine Art Museum, Beijing, China
Shanghai Fine Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1984 Shanghai Fine Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1983 Shanghai Fine Art Museum, Shanghai, China
1982 Shanghai Fine Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Museum Collection
National Treasure Museum, Japan
Publications & Press
2019 New York Magazine, The Cut, Meet 10 Emerging Artists From the Other Art Fair
Canvas by Saatchi Art, Brooklyn: Furong Zhang
HocTok, #What Matters by Furong Zhang
Awards and Honors
1989 Fellowship for Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
1985 Second Place, National Fine Art Exhibition of Youth, Beijing, China
Teaching Experience
1982-1989 Lecturer, Fine Art Department, Shanghai Normal University, China