Chen Hongzhu was born in Chongqing, China in 1982. She is currently living and working in Beijing, China where she specialises in painting. Chen Hongzhu is one of the New Generation of Chinese women. Confident and rebellious, she graduated from the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts, and her work has already been picked up by the Chinese contemporary uber-collector Uli Sigg.
Influenced by American painters such as Mark Ryden and John Currin, her zoomorphic self-portraits meld surrealism with self-examination. They depict seemingly perfect porcelain dolls that are nevertheless damaged & fragile, the cuts and dripping blood on the otherwise pristine bunnies hinting at traumas faced and survived. Her paintings suggest a tragedy in beauty, a disappointed innocence, but also a steely determination – disillusionment, yes, but also a persistence to carry on.
