The Zhou Brothers - Travel to Europe

Term Paper July 25, 2011

The Zhou Brothers - Travel to Europe

The Zhou Brothers are one of the most accomplished contemporary artists in the world today renowned for their unique collaborative work process. They always work together on their paintings, performances, sculptures, and prints, often communicating without words in a so-called “dream dialogue”. Their thinking, aesthetic, and creativity are a symbiosis of Eastern and Western philosophy, art, and literature that contributed to their development since early childhood. Their strong spirit allowed them to leave behind their success in China, where they were celebrated as national heroes for their early work, to step onto the world stage in the West. They have since achieved international acclaim while continuing to work in the West with a strong influence of the non-Western world.

The Zhou Brothers, Shan Zuo born in 1952 and DaHuang Zhou born in1957 raised in the 1960s in the Chinese province of Guangxi during a turbulent political period in China known as the Cultural Revolution, the Zhou Brothers were forced to combat many obstacles which, if not for their strong will and ambition, could have brought a quick halt to their artistic careers. Instead, they persevered forward, passionately continued in their artistic studies and established themselves as well respected artists. As their works were increasingly exhibited and recognized, the brothers were hailed as national treasures of China. The brothers began collaborating on their work in 1973 and since then have collaborated on each and every work.

They studied drama and painting at the University of Shanghai from 1978 to 1982 and the National Academy for Arts and Crafts in Beijing from 1983 to 1984 where they received their MFAs. During the beginning of the 1980s they became leaders of the contemporary art movement in China. In 1985 they won the National Prize of the Chinese Avant-Garde of the Ministry of Culture and the Prize for Creativity from the Peace Corps of the United Nations. They became the best-known young painters of their generation working in mainland China during the 1980s. In 1985, they were the first artists ever given the opportunity to exhibit their work--large-scale, primitivist-abstract paintings--in a traveling exhibition that stopped in the five most important art institutions in China, including the National Museum of Art in Beijing and the art museums of Shanghai and Nanjing. Although the brothers have lived and worked in the United States since 1986, they have never deviated from their original working approach. The bothers established in 1991 the Zhou Brothers Art foundation designed to facilitate the exchange of contemporary art between Chicago and the international art community. The center has one of the most impressive showings of contemporary art that the city has to offer and it operates a program of four exhibits