About Zhou Zhongwen

Zhou Zhongwen was born in Shanghai in 1953, with ancestral roots in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and is the master of Changle Studio (长乐斋). He is a member of the Shanghai Artists Association and a council member of the China Academy of Painting and Calligraphy. He is also a guest painter and calligrapher at the Southern Branch of the Painting and Calligraphy Academy of the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, and a painter at the Chong'en Painting and Calligraphy Academy in Songjiang, Shanghai. He serves as a council member of the Shanghai Collectors and Connoisseurs Association, and as a guest researcher at the Folk Art Academy of the Guangdong Provincial Government Research Institute of Culture and History. He is a member of the Shanghai Poetry Society and the Shanghai Couplet Society, and a guest painter at the Painting and Calligraphy Academy of the Jiangsu Collectors Association. He was a co-curator of the “New Era, New Charm” exhibition of outstanding artworks, hosted by the Counsellors' Office of the State Council and the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, and is a registered senior art teacher with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Raised in a family steeped in traditional culture, he loved Chinese culture from childhood and took up calligraphy and painting early. He works in calligraphy and seal carving and paints figures, landscapes, flowers and birds, insects and animals, excelling above all in ink-wash figures and Slender Gold script (瘦金书). Generous and optimistic by nature, he makes friends everywhere; his wisdom hides in his humour and his kindness shows in his openness. His Jigong figures are each different in bearing, vivid and warm. His “Portraits of Jigong” are highly regarded among fellow artists and known in China and abroad. His long Jigong handscroll brings painting, calligraphy and seal carving together in one work and captures the legendary monk's free spirit and charm.

“Learn from the masters, walk your own path”

Zhou has always held that one should “learn from the masters, but walk your own path.” He uses calligraphic line to capture the look of things, yet cares even more about conveying feeling through brush and ink. He reshapes form to serve meaning and composes freely, with a brush that is light but never shallow. His technique is fluent and unconstrained: it respects tradition, values brushwork and seeks delight, and it keeps exploring an artistic language of his own. His works hide the remarkable within the ordinary; they are concise, gentle and full. They are easy to understand at first sight, yet feel fresh and bring immediate pleasure.

His paintings and calligraphy have been shown in national, provincial and municipal exhibitions. Seventy of his works on “Shanghai Street Life” were shown in 2019 at the Shanghai CPPCC in “New Era, New Charm”, a China–Philippines Folk Culture Exchange Week exhibition. It was hosted by the Counsellors' Office of the State Council and the Central Research Institute of Culture and History, and seventy works by teachers and students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts were shown alongside them. His work has been published by Xinhua News Agency and in newspapers, magazines and catalogues including Jiefang Daily, Wenhui Daily, Xinmin Evening News, CPPCC Times, Shanghai Art, Cultural China, Connoisseurship, Shanghai Collection and Guangdong Folk Art. It has also appeared in the catalogues of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Sketch Exhibition and of the 2nd Guangdong–Yunnan Masters' Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition. In 2014 his work was included in the China Painting Yearbook · East China Volume. His works are held by companies, universities, cultural figures and museums in China and abroad.