Xi Zhang
EXIT: Childtown
April 6 – July 1, 2023
Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery, Ent Center for the Arts
About the Exhibition
A major shift in Xi Zhang’s career began nearly a decade ago when Zhang established his expansive Metallic Leaf Garden series. A dramatic change in his environment emboldened Zhang towards this vigorous new exploration, one he has pushed forward unceasingly ever since.
EXIT: Childtown affords an opportunity to take stock of the enormous evolution in Zhang’s work through the single largest collection of paintings from within the Metallic Leaf Garden series delivered to the public to date. Across the series, Zhang builds a nonlinear narrative centered in allegory, forging a direction he had long sought to realize through his rich imagination. Zhang maintains his fearless, experimental tendencies, grounded by deep thought, that draw the viewer's attention. Zhang’s broad context and vivid imagination present reality in its most dreamlike form through a richness of color and composition that varies widely across the entire expanse of his “garden.” It is no surprise that he has dedicated his wide-ranging, attentive spirit to its ongoing cultivation and care.
EXIT: Childtown is guest curated by Ivar Zeile.
Image: The Ghost Town, Acrylic on Canvas, 60 x 72 inches, 2020
IMPORTANT DATES
Exhibition on View
April 6 – July 1, 2023
Opening Reception
April 6, 2023, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery
Visiting Artists Lecture
April 6, 2023, 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Chapman Recital Hall, Ent Center for the Arts
Gallery Talk with Ivar Zeile
Saturday, June 17, 2023, 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery, Ent Center for the Arts
No registration required
Gallery hours:
Thursday - Saturday, 1 - 6 p.m.
About the Artist
Born in 1984 in Kaifeng, China, Xi Zhang completed his studies in painting at China’s Beijing Institute of Art and Design. He moved to the United States to further his artistic training at Denver, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from RMCAD in 2008, and that same year was recognized by then Denver Post art critic Kyle MacMillan as the Emerging Artist of the Year for his well-developed, surprisingly mature vision. Zhang continued from there with his masters studies in painting at the University of Colorado, Boulder, receiving his MFA from the institution in 2011.
Zhang’s work had notable shows including Song Zhuang Multimedia Art Exhibition at Song Zhuang Art Museum in Beijing (2006), URRA in Argentina (Buenos Aires 2012), Ornaments at White House (2012), and Biennale of America in U.S. (2013). His work was featured on media as CNN (2011), Art ltd Magazine(2012), PBS (2013), NPR (2013), and Juxtapoz Magazine (2014). Zhang also was awarded Emerging Artist of Year (Denver Post 2008), The Pathmaker (Denver Post 2011), Top twelve artists under age 35 (Denver Post 2012), The John Moores Painting Prize (China, Finalist 2016), Gold Award Winner in painting from Art Forward Contest (Los Angeles 2016), Celeste Prize in Painting (Italy, Finalist 2017), and Grand Prize in Painting from See Me (New York 2020). Zhang is represented by PLUS Contemporary Fine Arts Gallery in Denver and Marc Straus Gallery in New York.
About the Curator
Ivar Zeile is an innovative arts leader, curator, and designer who has built multiple creative ventures into successful organizations. Zeile founded Denver Digerati in 2013, an entity specializing in digital motion-art applications for LED screens as a new and dynamic form of public art. Through the annual Supernova Digital Animation Festival, established in 2016, Zeile cultivated a singular, worldwide network of leading artists in the only annual forum focused exclusively on digital animation as art. In 2001, Zeile founded Plus Gallery, one of Denver, Colorado's most prestigious and celebrated contemporary art programs. He has operated an independent, wide-ranging freelance design practice that includes graphic design, trade show design, interior display, custom fabrication, film production, and video editing. Zeile has served as a member of the Denver Mayor's Commission for Cultural Affairs and as a board member for a variety of art-related non-profit groups based in Denver including RedLine, Platteforum, DAM Contemporaries, Denver Art Dealers Association, and others.
