Born in Yangjiang, Guangdong in 1970 and graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1992, Zheng Guogu is considered to be one of the most important members of a new generation of Chinese artists after the avant-garde movement of the 1980s. Zheng is renowned for his versatile artistic character and his capability of utilising a wide range of media in his creative process. He has experimented with a wide range of mediums, such as photography, painting, sculpture, installation, calligraphy, embroidery and architecture.
Zheng is best known for the expressive quality of his artworks. Having grown up in Guangzhou, Zheng was profoundly influenced by the rapid economic development that in China. Zheng’s hometown and its culture have been an important inspiration as he commits his works to exploring the radical changes brought about by the nation’s fast expanding economy. To a large extent, Zheng’s works represent an artistic formulation of the social and economic transformation that has overwhelmed China over the past decade. With the use of a diversity of art media, the subtle changes in Chinese culture are reflected, revealed and contemplated in a prudent and sensible manner. In the context of unmanageable globalization, Zheng offers a revamped mix of imagination and reality, and his personal interpretation of the new China.
Zheng is the recipient of the Chinese Contemporary Art Awards in 2006 and took part in several seminal exhibitions such as ‘The Corruptionists’ in 1998 and ‘Post-Sense Sensibility’ in 1999. In 2002, he co-founded the Yangjiang Group with two other Chiense artists, Cheng Zaiyan and Sun Qinglin. Notable solo exhibitions for Zheng Guogu include ‘Hundred-Year-Old Tree Blooms Again’ (2008) in Chambers Fine Art, New York, ‘Surprise Urban Discoveries’ in Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong, and ‘Photo works 1997-2000’ in ShanghART, Shanghai. His works are widely shown in China and abroad, namely at the 4th Guangzhou Triennial (2011), 10th Lyon Biennial (2010), Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (2010), The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (2008), Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2008), Walker Art Center, Minnesota, USA (2007), Documenta 12, Kassel (2007), Mori Art Museum, Tokyo (2005), Venice Biennale (2003) and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (1998).
