ZOU YINONG

Born 1959 in Zhejiang, China. Now lives in Melbourne. 

Vice President of Australia-China Art Research Institute  

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

The 10th China Watercolour and Gouche Exhibition Solo Exhibition, Lingnan Art Museum，Guangdong

China Zou Yinong Solo Exhibition, Jiaxing Library, Zhejiang

China An Exhibition of Zhang Junqiu and Zou Yinong, Yangzhou Art Museum, Jiangsu 

China Yi Cai Tong Dao — Academic Exhibition of Famous  Chinese Artists Solo Exhibition, Changsha, Hunan

China Weimar touring exhibition, Weimar, Frankfurt Germany Solo Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia 

The First Retrospective Exhibition of Australian Chinese  Artists, Sydney, Australia

“Zou Yinong’s approach to watercolour is extremely profound and affectionate. Upon encountering his  works, the first thought I had in regards to it was his consciousness of the perceptual and physical characteristics of the subjects in his paintings. His watercolour paintings have a traditional expressionist procedure,  while at the same time advancing the canon of watercolour art to a contemporary visual context. Thus, his  artworks fulfil the sense of contemporaneity both physically and spiritually. 

A feature of Zou's works is his exploration towards abstract symbolisation in artistic expression. At the same  time, we also find the artist's efforts to pursue the independence of his own aesthetic character through  artistic language. As an artist working within the spheres of the Chinese culture system living in Australia,  Zou naturally and introspectively integrates spiritual elements of Chinese traditional art in his paintings. As  well as this, due to the inherently bright and transparent characteristics of watercolour as a medium, many  artists’ works tend to fall into the convention of a popular, immediate and flagrant, aesthetic. In this  respect Zou is very alert; his works value the separation from traditional aesthetic tastes, harnessing a  contemporary dialogue of cross-cultural painting into a a sophistication usually belying this process and  medium. This robust character and earnestness is rare, and praiseworthy for a watercolour artist. 

I believe Zou to be one of the outstanding watercolour painters working today; the artist draws from, and  away, the traditions of watercolour painting giving it a new life in this contemporary context.”