RECENT SHOW CATALOG:
| odele_catalog.pdf |
About the Artist:
Odele Eleanor Zhang explores the intersections of nature and contemporary society. Zhang's work is informed by her engagement with photography, sculpture, and painting. An avid researcher of mammalian behavior, global natural ecosystems, urban landscapes, and contemporary interpretations of intellectual history, Zhang seeks to incorporate and recast her research, offering unexpected descriptions of scenery in work that is at once inquisitive, playful, and tense. Time-constrained execution is integral to her practice, along with providing a glimpse of natural splendor recast within contemporary art practice.
Zhang has exhibited in the United States and abroad at venues including GloguaAIR in Berlin; Chashama, Lazy Susan, REVERSE, and West Chelsea Artists in New York City; SOHO Gallery and O Gallery in Shanghai; Skaftfell Art Center of Iceland, and many more. She participated in visiting artist programs at institutions including Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Victoria Academy. In 2014 and 2016, Zhang participated in artist residencies at Germany and Iceland respectively.
Zhang holds a BS of Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has studied with mentors at the Arts Student League of New York, School of Visual Art, and the National Fine Arts Academy of New York. She lives and works in Menlo Park, California.
Odele Eleanor Zhang explores the intersections of nature and contemporary society. Zhang's work is informed by her engagement with photography, sculpture, and painting. An avid researcher of mammalian behavior, global natural ecosystems, urban landscapes, and contemporary interpretations of intellectual history, Zhang seeks to incorporate and recast her research, offering unexpected descriptions of scenery in work that is at once inquisitive, playful, and tense. Time-constrained execution is integral to her practice, along with providing a glimpse of natural splendor recast within contemporary art practice.
Zhang has exhibited in the United States and abroad at venues including GloguaAIR in Berlin; Chashama, Lazy Susan, REVERSE, and West Chelsea Artists in New York City; SOHO Gallery and O Gallery in Shanghai; Skaftfell Art Center of Iceland, and many more. She participated in visiting artist programs at institutions including Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Victoria Academy. In 2014 and 2016, Zhang participated in artist residencies at Germany and Iceland respectively.
Zhang holds a BS of Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and has studied with mentors at the Arts Student League of New York, School of Visual Art, and the National Fine Arts Academy of New York. She lives and works in Menlo Park, California.
Odele's works:
1. cross physical, psychological, and cultural barriers
2. play with the juxtaposition of the organic and the inorganic
ex A. invite wild animals to invade human made spaces
ex B. set manmade geometric animal shapes in natural settings
ex C. landscape plays
and more...
An APT Global Artist
MEDIA:
“The paintings are built on contrasts. The animals are large and mix delightful colors with a power that is sometimes menacing. As these natural creatures encounter the technological environment of humans, complications ensue. A whale towers over what might be a city or rows of ancient stelae. In his mouth, an antique automobile begins to disintegrate. Another features a bright, colorful toucan in a pleasant landscape. But then you notice that the bird is perched on a cannon, which is pointed directly at the viewer and appears ready to fire.
The artist is well prepared to explore such conflicting elements. She was born in China, then moved to Israel, and at age eleven settled in the United States. She grew up in Cleveland and attended college in Philadelphia. Now she frequently travels. With a foot in several cultures, she is attuned to the way conflict and creativity both result when different worlds collide. Now she invites the viewer to bring one more point of view to the encounter."
HISTORY
Mediums Used
Oil on Linen Canvas
Oil on Wood Panel
Oil on IKEA Chairs
Water color on Paper
Acrylic on Cotton Canvas
Acrylic on cardboard
Digital Sculpture
Digital Photography
Oil /Acrylic on found objects
Solos
2018.10 Beowulf. Online. Audience feedback.
2017.08 LIVE Broadcast @Parasol Projects Rivington, New York, NY USA.
2016.10 Less Obvious Invasions Solo show @Lazy Susan Gallery, New York, NY USA.
2016.06 Intimate Moments Open Studio show @526 W 26th St, New York, NY USA.
2016.02 double headed bison and such/a mindful installation @REVERSE space, Brooklyn NY USA.
2015.12 2015 works @ZhuQiZhan Art Museum, Shanghai, China.
2014.10 Open Jungle @chashama Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
2014.07 Mysterious Animals coming to Berlin @GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany
2014.01 Animals and Machines @O. Gallery, Shanghai, China.
2013.05 menacing BUTT spaces @chashama Gallery, New York, NY, USA.
2012.12 The Elephant that Stayed in the Room @O.Gallery,Shanghai,China.
Groups
2016.12 sla307 StarDUST Group Show, New York, NY USA.
2016.09 Artist of the month @101Bedford, Brooklyn, NY USA.
2016.06 West Chelsea Artists Open Studio, New York, NY USA.
2015.11 MidYear Exhibition @The National Academy School of Fine Arts, New York NY USA.
2015.03 Transcendence @SOHO Shanghai
Residencies
2016.06-07 Villa R art residency, Sicily, Italy
2016.04-05 Skaftfell Center for Visual Art, Iceland
2014.07-08 GlogauAiR, Berlin Germany
Live Events
2016.10.08 Body dance painting performance with DJ @101Bedford Brooklyn NY USA.
2014.10.25 DAFF Art and Design Fair, Shanghai
2014.06.30 Hong Kong Hollywood Road Centre Stage
2014.05.09 Shanghai RockBund Light & Salt
2014.03.27 Cleveland Beachwood Community Live Painting
2014.03.22 Boston Cherry Hill Live Painting
Lectures
2014.06.26 “CONFLICTS” Victoria Shanghai Academy, Hong Kong
2014.11.29 “THE POSSIBLES WITHIN IMPOSSIBLES” K11 Art Center, Shanghai
Interviews
2014 CBN (China Business Network) - Artist Seeks to Collaborate with you! -- Animals and Machines Exhibition
2014 Shanghai Family - Meet the Artist Odele E. Zhang
2013 Sara Michael - Beauty in Interpretation: Animalistic Art Invites Walk on Wild Side.
2012 TALK Shanghai - An Artistic Riddle
Previous interviews
"I really want everyone to become part of the art..."
by Ronni Rowland
Looking for something creative and fun this weekend? Check out Odele E. Zhang's opening of her third solo exhibition at O-Gallery on January 11th, 2014, Saturday, 1-4pm. In her famously unique way, Zhang invites viewers to actively engage and interact with her newest show Animals and Machines. Past viewers leave her shows with new perceptions and interpretations of the world around them. She invites you to come "play" with her art and create!
Shanghai Family was lucky enough to ask Odele Zhang a few questions about her creative process:
1. What is the most meaningful feedback you've heard from an attendee at one of your exhibitions?
A post-show comment about one of my works called "Takin I" impacted me deeply. I had been fascinated with the artist Edward Hopper. The empty spaces of his paintings delicately suggest the loneliness of humanity. Oh how touched I was! So I decided it was time that the animals moved in.
A typical conversation between the takin and the viewer:
“What are you doing here?”
“What are YOU doing here?”
“No, seriously, why are you here.”
“No, seriously, why are YOU here.”
Viewers tended to say that the sense of confusion and loss can be readily felt. And whoever the viewer is can feel that way. (Just a scientific note: Takins can only survive at locations 4000 meters above sea level in the highlands of middle Asia.)
2. Why do animals play such a central role in your artwork?
Because I have lived in many cultures (American, Israeli, Chinese) and respect all types of cultures, I feel that human beings have too strong of an identity. Animals allow us to connect, transcend cross-cultural barriers, and FEEL similarly in these bizarre contexts created by the images.
When viewers enter my showspace, they are no longer female or male, African, American, Asian, European, or anything else. If you feel trapped when you see the elephant cornered, you then become one with the elephant. Then you'll share that feeling with your fellow human beings, no matter your cultural background.
3. How have your experiences in the US, Israel and China inspired the subjects of your artwork? In what ways does your art change and evolve depending on where you live?
I think all the places I've lived develops my visual language, visual perception. These images, visual languages fuse together to speak something afresh, unprecedented. I definitely avoid focusing only on one particular culture.
4. Why is it important to you for viewers to also interact with your artwork?
I'm always surprised by what the viewers have to say. These images are open for interpretation. I'm usually really bored at an art exhibition if I'm being told what I'm looking at. I really want everyone to become a part of the art, and know that we are communally creating. That feeling is exhilarating to me. And their responses, wild thoughts and ideas channel into my subconscious, allowing me to build on top of that and generate new ideas. For instance, the takin response was very fresh to me.
5. In what ways has your artwork transformed your own views of culture and the interconnectedness of people and the environment?
Really, I never bothered to understand where each specie of animal is located, their traits, habitats, tail patterns, until I took a detailed look at them to study them for my paintings.
That's how we are towards people who are different from us as well. We don't bother to examine or appreciate the details unless we have to. We move too fast to notice...we want too much to notice. For instance, a lot of the Asian elephants do not have tusks, but African wild elephants do. The milk cow was introduced to various cultures; it did not exist in China before. The animal behaviors - and what humans do to these animals - also say a lot about us.
by Ronni Rowland
Looking for something creative and fun this weekend? Check out Odele E. Zhang's opening of her third solo exhibition at O-Gallery on January 11th, 2014, Saturday, 1-4pm. In her famously unique way, Zhang invites viewers to actively engage and interact with her newest show Animals and Machines. Past viewers leave her shows with new perceptions and interpretations of the world around them. She invites you to come "play" with her art and create!
Shanghai Family was lucky enough to ask Odele Zhang a few questions about her creative process:
1. What is the most meaningful feedback you've heard from an attendee at one of your exhibitions?
A post-show comment about one of my works called "Takin I" impacted me deeply. I had been fascinated with the artist Edward Hopper. The empty spaces of his paintings delicately suggest the loneliness of humanity. Oh how touched I was! So I decided it was time that the animals moved in.
A typical conversation between the takin and the viewer:
“What are you doing here?”
“What are YOU doing here?”
“No, seriously, why are you here.”
“No, seriously, why are YOU here.”
Viewers tended to say that the sense of confusion and loss can be readily felt. And whoever the viewer is can feel that way. (Just a scientific note: Takins can only survive at locations 4000 meters above sea level in the highlands of middle Asia.)
2. Why do animals play such a central role in your artwork?
Because I have lived in many cultures (American, Israeli, Chinese) and respect all types of cultures, I feel that human beings have too strong of an identity. Animals allow us to connect, transcend cross-cultural barriers, and FEEL similarly in these bizarre contexts created by the images.
When viewers enter my showspace, they are no longer female or male, African, American, Asian, European, or anything else. If you feel trapped when you see the elephant cornered, you then become one with the elephant. Then you'll share that feeling with your fellow human beings, no matter your cultural background.
3. How have your experiences in the US, Israel and China inspired the subjects of your artwork? In what ways does your art change and evolve depending on where you live?
I think all the places I've lived develops my visual language, visual perception. These images, visual languages fuse together to speak something afresh, unprecedented. I definitely avoid focusing only on one particular culture.
4. Why is it important to you for viewers to also interact with your artwork?
I'm always surprised by what the viewers have to say. These images are open for interpretation. I'm usually really bored at an art exhibition if I'm being told what I'm looking at. I really want everyone to become a part of the art, and know that we are communally creating. That feeling is exhilarating to me. And their responses, wild thoughts and ideas channel into my subconscious, allowing me to build on top of that and generate new ideas. For instance, the takin response was very fresh to me.
5. In what ways has your artwork transformed your own views of culture and the interconnectedness of people and the environment?
Really, I never bothered to understand where each specie of animal is located, their traits, habitats, tail patterns, until I took a detailed look at them to study them for my paintings.
That's how we are towards people who are different from us as well. We don't bother to examine or appreciate the details unless we have to. We move too fast to notice...we want too much to notice. For instance, a lot of the Asian elephants do not have tusks, but African wild elephants do. The milk cow was introduced to various cultures; it did not exist in China before. The animal behaviors - and what humans do to these animals - also say a lot about us.