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Conceptual Artist
Baokang Zhao
AUSTRALIA
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“My painting journey has always been accompanied by material experiments and historical themes related to time.”
Born in Shanghai in 1953, the conceptual artist Baokang Zhao studied at the Stage Art Department of Shanghai Theatre Academy in 1975. He then worked as a stage art designer at Wuhan Drama Theater in 1978, worked as a lecturer in the Basic Department of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in 1986, and went to Australia to become a freelance artist in 1997.
Solar Flare No 01,Time of Go | Mixed Media
$30,000
71 X 89
Inspired by Yan'an's prints, I attempted to make a parallel presentation of history and reality across time and space. The moment I met Bruce Nauman's 1960s video installation at the Sydney Art Gallery, my memory trace back to the educated youth era I experienced during a parallel period with the artist. I not only that I want to give the work a sense of individual destiny and overall history, but also to focus on deeper connotations and emotional dimensions.
In 2006, he was hired as a foreign expert professor by the Shanghai Academy of Visual Arts, Fudan University, and served as the director of the painting major of the Academy of Fine Arts. He has continued to teach modern and contemporary art courses at the school since 2012. He won the silver medal of the ‘Ethereal Form International Award and Exhibition’ in the United States (2023); the gold medal of the ‘Second International Sand Sculpture Competition’ in China (2000); and the Outstanding Work Award of the ‘China Oil Painting Biennale’ (1994).
Solar Flare No. 2, Scene of Hypnosis | Mixed Media
$30,000
71 X 89
The position of the politician's speech in the work is vacant, but the listener is hypnotized by the vividness of the speech, implying a subtle relationship between the emptiness of authority and the control of discourse. By integrating Dan Flavin's 1960s lighting works into the background and contrasting, it triggers reflection on the multiple intertwined relationships between reality and fantasy, power and aesthetics, language and vision.
Since the 1980s, Zhao has been a pioneering explorer, an important representative artist, and a member of the Shanghai abstract painting community. From paper works to mixed media, from ‘Mirage’ to ‘Chinese Character Series,’ from 2013 to 2015, he was invited by the Shanghai Mingyuan Art Museum as a curator, three years in a row. He curated three exhibitions on Shanghai abstract paintings, ‘Homeland,’ ‘Nomadism’ and ‘Border’ under the general title ‘Another Utopia.’
“My paintings have a dual presentation pattern.”
In 2006, Baokang Zhao was hired as a foreign expert by the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, Fudan University, to serve as the head of the painting major in the Department of Fine Arts. In this era when modern art education is scarce, and urgently needs to be popularized, Zhao founded the first experimental modern painting course in Shanghai. In 2018, Zhao also published his book titled, ‘Comprehensive Painting Tutorial’ in China. It took him five years to edit the book before and it was rated as one of the key projects of Shanghai undergraduate teaching materials in 2015.
Solar Flare No. 28, 100 Microgramme LSD-2 | Mixed Media
$25,000
60 X 71
The work explores the impact of ideology on individual mental state and behavior by cross-examining the Cultural Revolution period and the hallucinogen LSD. This metaphorical technique brings out reflections on power, ideology, and spiritual control, attempting to remind people to examine the social impact and consequences of the phenomenon of mental enslavement and blind obedience that exist in contemporary society.
There may be a conflict between aesthetics and reality in O'Keeffe's poppy flower works and that of the Yan'an period. By examining the differences and similarities between the two, we can gain a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between aesthetics and reality in art and history. Historical experience can serve as a model of success, but it may also contain paradoxes and lessons that require careful consideration and reflection.
Solar Flare No. 18, Nan Ni Wan | Mixed Media
$45,000
71 X 106
Baokang Zhao's conceptualism art pieces have been exhibited in the Chinese Art Museum, Beijing, Shanghai Art Museum, Palace of Fine Arts in Shanghai, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, Shanghai Biz-art Centre, Shanghai View-point Space (M50), Westlake Museum in Hangzhou of China, Yokohama Art Museum, Japan, Tokyo International Exchange Centre, Art Museum of Tokyo University. GSR Gallery in Taiwan, Washington Art Expo of United States, Chicago Art University, Raymonde Gallery in Paris, Vienna Artist's Home, etc. among others.
“After 2004, my series of works ‘Flare’ showed that I am an artist who constantly expands his vision to the perspective of contemporary art history.”
“From the use of beeswax solidification to seal images in the 1990s and a series of paintings exploring non-figurative material language, my main interest even today is: the painting language of multi-level quotations of historical images with material shaping.”
As a conceptual artist, Zhao intends to superimpose two different historical scenes, deriving two different painting methods to complete the corresponding cultural narrative. The prompting effect of light and text undoubtedly connects the comparison of Chinese and Western historical events from a personalized perspective.
Solar Flare No 25, Two Kinds of Interpretation about the Red | Mixed Media
$50,000
71 X 106
Joseph Kosos' work 'RED' was created based on the reading and understanding of Wittgenstein's' Commentary on Color '. It begins to examine the role and status of art, as well as the hidden meanings behind what people give to artworks. My work presents a complex and symbolic scene, combining historical events, theoretical ideas, and contemporary art creation, presenting multiple content and levels.
The artist’s view of history is phenomenological, with only clues and image fragments for argumentation, but no final conclusion to support it. Just like the visual flare produced by a human’s gaze on light. In terms of cultural comparison; the historical images and quotations of the Chinese revolution and the works and philosophical aphorisms in Western contemporary art that use light as a medium clearly carry the questioning nature of intellectuals.
Solar Flare No.7, Darkness under the lamp | Mixed Media
$50,000
71 X 106
The idiom "darkness under the lamp" derived from this fable story illustrates that some things are even more vague and complex in bright places, and the truth is difficult to reveal. It also reminds people to be wary of the control of power, information and knowledge. The narrative of the canvas presents complex and subtle relationships between power, light, authority and darkness.
He tried to use a conceptual artist's personal subjective judgment mode and image materials as a framework to support his personal logical reasoning method to question the certainty of history and the true meaning of the image.
The neon text " AN SUBJECT SELF-DEFINED " in the work implies the understanding and definition of one's own role and identity as an individual in the social, political, and cultural context. This contrasts sharply with Mao Zedong's speech at the literary symposium and the group photos of the attendees, expressing the importance of self reflection and self-awareness.
Solar Flare No.10, Mao Zedong's speech at the Yan'an Forum on Literature | Mixed Media
$55,000
71 X 106
“Through my art, I have realized new reality while interpreting history.”
Solar Flare No.27, The lonely shepherd | Mixed Media
$45,000
71 X 106
The reason why shepherds are called "lonely" is due to both external professional characteristics and environmental factors, as well as internal responsibility pressure and spiritual realm. They experience a unique state of life and mentality in their interaction with nature, animals, and themselves, displaying a solitary emotion of isolation and independent thinking.
Zhao Baokang is an artist of his generation who has continuously expanded his vision to the background of contemporary art history and realized conceptualism art. The thoughts of Western philosopher Wittgenstein and conceptual artist Kosuth are the main sources that help him effectively complete conceptual reflection.
Olafur Eliasson's installation work "Artificial Sun" aims to create a unique experience related to nature, light, and space through artistic creation, allowing the audience to re-examine the relationship between nature and humanity; The 'red sun' may represent the illusion of power and the restriction of individual freedom, implying absolute dependence on authority and the deprivation of individual independent thinking ability.
Solar Flare No.27 Two suns | Mixed Media
$50,000
71 X 213
In terms of technique, spots are like decorative outlines attached to the surface of the canvas, without depth of field, and details are filtered. The overall picture effectively restores the historical image scene despite the partial abstract description. The texture of the raised pigment gradually spreads the shaping and production of the image from the dots.
Solar Flare No.22 Revolutionary melting pot |Mixed Media
$80,000
71 X 213
The work provides a realistic and complex description of large-scale political rallies during the Cultural Revolution in China, Showing a deep impression and feeling of the political wonders of that era as a witness. When political ideology is forcibly disseminated and shaped through large scale to maintain order and ideological unity, power is already at the end of its rope and implies the disappearance and assimilation of individuals in the collective.
“I strive to establish my own interpretation system of history, which is not history itself, but the realization of new reality in retrospect.”
Baokang Zhao
@bocca1953815
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