In this Episode of Art is Awesome, Host Emily Wilson spends time with ceramic xculptor Wanxin Zhang.
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Today, Emily chats with Ceramic Sculptor Wanxin Zhang...Wanxin discusses his journey from studying art in China, his move to America, and the influence of prominent Bay Area artists on his work. He shares how artists like Robert Arneson and Viola Frey helped shift his perception of ceramics from craft to fine art. Wanxin's sculptures, which blend historical references with contemporary culture, are showcased in several prestigious museums and galleries. He recounts his early inspiration from his mother and the pivotal moment he decided to move to the U.S. Wanxin also talks about how changing his medium from metal to clay allowed him to express his identity and cultural heritage more profoundly.
About Artist Wanxin Zhang:
Wanxin Zhang was born and educated in China. He graduated from the prestigious LuXun Academy of Fine Art in Sculpture in 1985. In 1992, after Zhang established his art career as a sculptor in China, he relocated to San Francisco with his family and received his Master in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University. Zhang had been on the faculty of the Academy of Art University, Department of Art Practice at University of California, Berkeley and California College of The Art in Oakland, and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Zhang's sculptures represent a marriage between historical references and a contemporary cultural context; they carry messages of social and political commentary. His work is deeply influenced by the Bay Area figurative movement and artists such at Peter Voulkos and Stephen De Staebler. As a studio sculptor and educator, Zhang was the first place recipient of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant in 2006 and the Joan Mitchell Grant in 2004. His sculptures have been shown in San Francisco, Santa Fe, Miami, Seattle, Palm Desert and New York City. In 2007, his pieces were part of the 22nd UBE Sculpture Biennial in Japan; in 2008, his sculpture was selected by the Taipei Ceramics Biennial in Taiwan; and in 2013, he was part of the Da Tong's 2nd International Sculpture Biennial in China. Zhang had his first solo art museum show at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in 2006, with solo museum exhibitions following at the Arizona State University Art Museum, Boise Art Museum in Idaho, Fresno Art Museum in California, The Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art in Michigan, Bellevue Arts Museum in Washington, and Holter Museum of Art in Montana. His works have been selected to be included in Confrontational Ceramics by Judith Schwartz, and can be found in major art magazines such as "Art News," "Art in America," "Sculpture," and "American Ceramics." Zhang has many public collections, and his private collectors are located both nationally and internationally. In 2012, the San Francisco Chronicle picked Zhang's exhibition at the Richmond Art Center to be one of the Top 10 Exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Visit Wanxin's Website: WanxinZhang.com
Follow Wanxin on Instagram: @WxZhang25
For more about M is for Water at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa, CLICK HERE.
For more about the Spirit House exhibition at Stanford University, CLICK HERE.
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About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:
Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.
Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil
Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast
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CREDITS:
Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.
Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.
For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com
Host Emily Wilson: [00:00:00] Art is Awesome can now be heard on KSFP 102. 5 FM every Friday at 9 a. m. and 7 p. m. Please follow the show and rate us wherever you get your podcast media. If you like what you hear from today's artist, you can find links and information about them in our show notes.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: Many artists like Stephen de Staebler, Viola Frey, Bob Arneson, Richard Shaw, you know, the artists dealing clay just like fine art and create a different form, character. This truly shocked me.
Host Emily Wilson: That's ceramic sculptor, Wanxin Zhang on Art is Awesome.
I'm your host, Emily Wilson. I'm a writer in San Francisco, often covering the arts. [00:01:00] And I've been meeting such great people that I created this bi weekly podcast to highlight their work.
Ceramic sculptor, Wanxin Zhang studied art in China and after graduation worked as an artist and a teacher. When he was 31, he decided to move to America. He met Bay area artists like Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, Richard Shaw and Stephen De Stabler, who helped shift ceramics from being considered a craft to a fine art.
They had a huge influence on Wanxin. He started working with clay as well and combined historical references and contemporary culture in his sculptures. Wanxin 's work is in collections at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum, San Francisco's Asian Art Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the National Art Museum of China and Beijing, and the Smithsonian [00:02:00]American Art Museum, among others.
He is represented by the Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. Wanxin currently has work in the show M is for Water at Napa’s di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art and in the Spirit House exhibition at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford. I met Wanxin at his studio, filled with sculptures, both huge and not as huge.
We talked about how seeing American artist Robert Rauschenberg in Beijing in 1985, influenced him and making his own terracotta army a bigger than life size warriors after seeing the famous ones in Xi'an. Ever since he was a little boy, Wanxin loved art.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I started art when I was a little, uh, child. I liked drawing all the time. But when I was 16, I went to art school, seriously studied art for years. [00:03:00] In 1980s, I went to art college. I studied sculpture for five years, and after I graduated from college, I was teaching several years in a local art school.
Host Emily Wilson: At school, the focus was on technique.
When he graduated, Wanxin wanted something different.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: Right after college, I hated it. I said, I don't want to do classical anymore. Just because, you know, after the 1980s, China opened a door to the West, and we have a chance to see something from the West, you know, what does American look like? What are American artists doing? You know, something like that. We have more information
Host Emily Wilson: He says American artist Robin Rauschenberg’s groundbreaking show in Beijing nearly 40 years ago changed everything.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: There's a turning point in our work. It's completely changed — not just for me, for whole generation. We have to think about what is art, what does art mean.[00:04:00]
And today when we talk about the Chinese contemporary art, we have to talk about from 1985. That's the start of a new movement.
Host Emily Wilson: Wanxin's mother encouraged him to make art when he was little, using the patterns the condensation on the window panes made as inspiration. She suggested he draw the pictures he saw there before they melted.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I live in northeast China, a very cold area wintertime, like New York, Chicago. So, during the wintertime, every morning when we wake up, we can see the window have a beautiful crystal flowers created by outside cold air with inside warm temperature. My mom always pointed at each panel and talk to me, this is like a gift.
Landscape, the lake with the little ball on the center and the forest and something like this. Each panel have a different and sometime my mom cutting the papers like a [00:05:00] puppy, you know, um, monkey, something like that, put on the windows. But the funny thing is when the sun comes out, all the pictures on the windows is gone.
My mom said, why don't you try to keep some memories drawn on the papers. I said, oh, that's a good idea. And back then, we don't have an official sketchbook. You know, but I used my textbook back size, drawing the picture all the time. But I get in trouble. You can imagine my teacher, school teacher.
This is how I started. Working with the art and, uh, it's obviously my mom is the first person who gave me inspiration.
Host Emily Wilson: When Wanxin decided to leave his job and home to move to America, his family didn't want him to go. But his mother pointed out that others in the family had also left their homes.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: After my 31st birthday, I talked to my parents. I say, I want to go to United States. My family is angry with me. Everybody against my plan. Why you [00:06:00] go there? What's going on? Why, why you want to go to United States? I said, I don't know. My mom supported me. My mom say, Wanxin, this is not your fault. You know, uh, let me tell you, your great grandfather migrant to the northeast from Central Territory China in early 19th century.
And then, your grandfather, back in 1950s, encourage your father to leave the countryside to the city. Now, you follow your father, it go more far away, but this time you cross the Pacific Ocean.
Host Emily Wilson: Wanxin and his wife, painter Diane Ding, decided on San Francisco.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: After change the location from China to United States and completely changed my perspective. It used to be I stand in Beijing looking for West and completely different from my standing Bay Area, San Francisco, looking to [00:07:00] China. You know, change of location changed my mind.
Host Emily Wilson: At first, it was hard. Wanxin had started doing abstract metal sculptures after college. But here, he met Bay Area clay artists, some of them part of the California funk art movement.
It made him want to go back to working with clay.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I have no idea what am I going to do. After a couple of years, I meet a lot of Bay Area artists, particularly clay artists. I say, wow, Collate is not just whatever we think in China. China always treat collate like a secondary. We, we work in clay for a thousand years, but always like a decoration, but here the artists, like many artists, like Stephen Stabler, Willa Frye, um, Bob Anderson, Richard Sean, you know, the artists are dealing clay just like a, like a, you know, fine art and create a different form, character.
This truly shocked me. I told myself [00:08:00] I have to. gave up whatever I thought about the contemporary, the metal sculpture. I want to do something clay because this is, I played clay when I was a little boy and working a few years in college and working the figures. I feel this is the right moment to bring it back.
Host Emily Wilson: Wanxin had been longing to do something different with his art since Rauschenberg 1985 show in Beijing. He found what he wanted to do in exploring history, politics, and contemporary culture.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: What does the artist mean for us, for myself? We're not just make a beautiful picture, beautiful sculpture. We better do something But different how you find out and who you are.
This is how I can start from here. You know, I went to the museum, went to the gallery, see a lot of masterpieces in the first hand. I like it very much, but I don't think it's speaking to me. [00:09:00]Nothing's related with me. I say this until I see the California artists, clay artists. I say, I want to try something representing myself, who I am.
This is the first question.
Host Emily Wilson: Seeing the Xian warriors from the tomb of China's first emperor made a big impact on Wanxin. He was struck by how the artists gave the warriors their own characteristics, and he decided to make contemporary warriors.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I tried to start clay work. Let's make from my cultural memories, the cultural background. Over 20 years ago, I started making warriors. You know, I will say that the Xian warriors were a departure point for my sculptures and I made a life size warrior. I indicated my identities and culture and personalities combined contemporary commentary with social political issues. [00:10:00]That's the way I think it started.
Host Emily Wilson: Who wear ties and sunglasses and hold flowers or books helped Wanxin find his voice as an artist. He remembers at the opening of his 2008 show, Contemporary Warriors, the influential and beloved Bay Area artist, Jim Melcher, told him that these sculptures brought something new.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I had an opening in the Bedford Gallery, 2008. Jim Melcher was there, Stephen Staebler was there, and Jim Melcher talked to me, and he said, one thing, you know, Euclid sculpture, it brings a lot of things we don't have in California. Oh my god, so I think, this is, this is, A huge, a contributor for my art.
Host Emily Wilson: Isabelle Sorrell curated M is for Water to explore the roots of language for water and mother and the source of life for nature and humans. There are 12 artists in the [00:11:00] show, including Wanxin.
Artist Wanxin Zhang: I like the curator's idea. I think it's very interesting. Basically, talk about water, talk about the mother, and there's no life without water. There are no child without a mother. And after opening in DeRosa, we, uh, We have a panel discussion. I think this is quite a good moment.
I want to talk about, you know, the water, the moderate relationship.
Host Emily Wilson: This is where I ask the artists the same three questions every episode. When they knew they were an artist, what's some work that made an impression on them, and what's the most creatively inspiring place in the Bay Area? To
Artist Wanxin Zhang: be honest, I started art is quite early days. You know, training in the school and went to [00:12:00] college, I realized I'm a real artist. I, after graduate from college, you know, 19, 1985, something like that. So I want to really be artists. Usually be just considered like a job, you know, after school, I can get a job, do something sculpture, painting, you know, that's for the, for the living.
When you think about art, as artists, because this is quite seriously, you have to dedicate it for your life. I will say after college, I truly seriously think about being an artist.
Not single piece or one artist, many, many artwork, you know, just like say In the junior college, we have um, the magazine, you know, try to read a book by Picasso. That's with beginning, I believe, 82, 83. 1982, 83, we start. First time [00:13:00] saw the Picasso by print magazine. This is quite big impact. And but after, We set up a Bay Area, um, I would say that Stephen Stabler, Bob Anderson, it's quite a big impact for my career, you know, with Richard Shaw, many new artists, artists, doing clay or sculptures.
I like the Bay Area. I think there's amazing communities, the museum, the galleries, you know, um, the institutions, arts. This place, I want to, I like to hang out, you know, um, particularly like opening, you know, if you know some artists and when they have an opening, you better just go there. You know, I am not always go to opening party.
I rather after opening, quiet, walking around the galleries and museum. Yeah, this is the whole thing. SFMOMA, de Young, you know, all kind of [00:14:00] museum, galleries. Particularly young, I like to go to young artists show, you know, it gives them more energies, just like, You know, see how, and it's different, you know, like I missed 20, 30 years ago.
Host Emily Wilson: Thank you so much for listening to Art is Awesome. And thank you to our guest, sculptor Wanxin Zhang. You can see his work. In M is for Water at Napa's DeRosa Center for Contemporary Art through October 6 and in the exhibition Spirit House at the Cantor Art Center at Stanford on view through next January.
Please join us next time when the guest will be Gyongy Laky, a sculptor who immigrated from Hungary when she was five years old and taught at UC Davis for 30 years.[00:15:00]
Art is Awesome is a biweekly podcast coming out every other Tuesday. It's created and hosted by me, Emily Wilson. It is produced and edited by Charlene Goto of Goto Productions. It's carried on KSFP LP 102. 5 FM. San Francisco on Fridays at 9 a. m. and 7 p. m. Our theme music is provided by Kevin MacLeod with Incompetech Music.
Be sure and follow us on Instagram at artisawesomepodcast or visit our website. Till next [00:16:00]time.