Zenghao Zhang: A Portrait Journey
Artist Statement
My exhibition consists of portraits in oil painting. All the subjects are based on photographs. Most of them are my friends, and I took their photos in natural light outdoors. I am always fascinated by Vincent van Gogh’s artworks, so for me, the main goal of this show is to explore Van Gogh’s styles and techniques. Through this exhibition, I would like to show the audience not only my technical skills and creativity, but also my learning process. I hope each of my paintings can evoke emotional responses.
After studying Van Gogh’s styles, I focused on three elements of a painting: color, brush stroke and harmony. Before getting into this multi-layer complexity, I establish the general form in a naturalistic manner. I decide the mood of the painting, as well as the colors that evoke this mood. I choose a few dominate colors and decide the proportion of warm/cool balance. I paint the skin tone in a wide range of colors, often with visually contrasting colors, or in technical terms, colors that are on the opposite side of the color wheel. For example, red versus green. Depending on the goal, I will choose whether to soften or intensify this color contrast. Like Van Gogh’s iconic brush technique, I align short, visible brush strokes one next to another. Since I am still learning, my brush strokes are less decisive than Van Gogh’s. I align brush strokes in certain directions, which are determined by the surface of the plane. This application can bring out the form.
Lastly, I check the harmony of my painting, and what I mean by “harmony” is how well the colors and brush strokes work as a unity in any part of the painting. The sense of unity is particularly determined by the relationship between foreground and background. In Van Gogh’s portraits, he treats the background the same as the subject, and the painting looks harmonious. For example, in Van Gogh’s last known self-portrait, made in 1889, he painted the background and himself in the same color palette. He created curvy patterns in the background by using short brush strokes, just like how he painted his shirt.
Intrigued by the decorative patterns in Van Gogh’s paintings, in my second Portrait of Clay, I used colorful, twisted stripes to create a flow of movement in the background. For this one, I painted the subject and the background separately, and I did not stick to a consistent brush style. My fourth painting, Vincent, is an attempt of mixing portrait with landscape. I was trying to depict Vincent van Gogh in a starry night. I intentionally blended the subject into the background by using the same color palette. This painting is for honoring Van Gogh’s legacy.