ZHOU JIRONG
Curriculum vitae
- 1962
- Born in Xinan, Guizhou
- 1987
- Graduated from the Printmaking Department, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
- 1988
- Instructor in the Printmaking Department, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
- 1996
- Artist-In-Residence, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (RAFA), Madrid; Visiting Scholar in France and Italy
- To present
- Zhou is currently an Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Printmaking Department, the Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing
- He is the Director of the China Printmaking Workshop Alliance.
Selected Exhibitions
- 2006
- Red Gate Gallery's 15th Anniversary, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
- 'Constructed Winds', Dashanzi International Art Festival, 798 Galleries, Beijing
- 2004
- 'Illusion', Solo Exhibition, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
- 2003
- 1st Beijing International Art Biennale, National Art Gallery of China, Beijing
- Beijing International Prints Biennale, Beijing
- Calendar of Contemporary Printmaking, Philip Hayden Foundation Fund raiser, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
- 2002
- 'Mirage', Solo Exhibition, Red Gate Gallery
- 'Golden Harvest', Zagreb, Croatia
- 'Chinese Contemporary Art', Belgrade, Serbia
- 2001
- 'Square Studio', Shanghai Art Gallery, Shanghai
- 'Clues to the Future', Red Gate Gallery's 10th Anniversary, Beijing
- 'Eastern Wind', Norway
- China/Japan Prints Exchange, Japan
- 2000
- Macao International Prints, Macao
- 1998
- Zhou Jirong - New Prints, Solo Exhibition, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing
Artist Statement
The theme of Zhou Jirong's prints is all about the culture and the look of old Beijing City.
Zhou depicts the Hutong, narrow streets in Beijing that are gradually disappearing, the quadrangles, old Beijing style dwelling houses; and the old people who stroll leisurely along these old streets. 'City the Waking of Insects' series has added some young people into the landscape, who are excited and restless, reflecting the situation in society at that time. Zhou Jirong thought that every scene of everyday life, which he recorded in his prints, had mirrored the real situation of the early days of Chinese Open-door period (1980s to early 1990s); people had wandered between the old and the new and between Eastern and Western values. He tried to give the message in his prints that Chinese people are losing their valuable traditions in today's fast changing global economy, and that they cannot afford to lose the cultural spirit of a nation.