Zhou Fan is a young, yet extremely creative, Chinese contemporary artist. His paintings have attracted attention at exhibitions in New York, Germany and Shanghai. In the Chinese Art Prize 2007, Zhou Fan was selected as one of the top 3 emerging Chinese contemporary artists (out of over 1300 entries into the art prize) by Gerard Goodrow, Director of Art Cologne, Jeff Kelley, Curator of the Asian Art Museum in California and other important judges. The first thing that strikes people when they view Zhou Fan’s work is how his paintings are so colourful and detailed. Zhou Fan spends many hours carefully painting the details and tiny lines which compose his subjects. Some people have remarked that the paintings have a “Japanese quality” to them. Zhou Fan is in fact ¾ Chinese and ¼ Japanese, and while his Japanese side has probably had some influence on the artist’s interests, Zhou has spent his whole life in China and cannot even speak Japanese. Zhou Fan paints his works so colourfully because his subject matter, such as jellyfish, is colourful. Jellyfish can glow a multitude of colours as they float in the ocean’s skies. While they are calm and soothing fish to look at, they pack a powerful sting that can even kill small fish or animals. Zhou has explained that one of his priorities is to make his works attractive, which is another reason why he makes his works so colourful. “Visual effect” is one of the priorities of any artist, according to Zhou.“My paintings are based on dreams that I had as a child of many, many jellyfish floating in the sky, some of which fell to the ground on parachutes and became mushrooms. These dreams had a strong impact on me, and I remember them vividly”- Zhou Fan. For more information or to get in touch with the artist, just follow the link below.
