Quanzhou (Jack) Zhao is a contemporary ink and multimedia artist living in the Boston area, Massachusetts. His works encircle different art mediums including brushwork on rice paper, acrylic painting, pencil, ink on canvas, and 3D designs.
Zhao’s artworks have a noticeably Chinese literati painting approach encompassing a fresh and contemporary look using elements often consisting of calligraphy, landscapes (shanshui), birds, and flowers. His unique brushstrokes offer the viewers a distinctive fluid visual experience to explore the aesthetics and artistry value of the artist's mixed background and life experiences. Zhao views his artworks as a free extension and expression of himself, and often times the techniques he uses derive from deep-rooted origins of Chinese brushwork and calligraphy which he has been studying and practicing on rice paper since he was a young child. While the subject matter is generally represented in metaphoric fashions and quasi-abstract forms, many of his works capture critical views of the worldwide social issues we are facing today including war, peace, human rights, freedom, etc..
Zhao graduated from the acclaimed painting program at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels in 2001 and he proudly won the Prize of the Royal Association of Professional Artists of Belgium. Later that year he relocated to the United States to further his art studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he earned his MFA degree with a major in 3D and multimedia arts. Zhao’s artworks have been on exhibit as part of an emerging artists group showing at the Walloon Fine Art Museum in Liege, Belgium, the Culture Center of Monterrey, Mexico, and an independent showing at the Puffin Room Gallery Soho, New York City.
More exhibitions and live calligraphy/ink art performances include:
February 2024 Tiffany, Copley Place, Boston,
January 2020 Versace, Copley Place, Boston,
June 2019 Peabody Essex Museum/Fountain Area (Salem Art Festival),
May 2019 Fuller Craft Museum, Massachusetts,
April 2019 "Calligraphy Across Cultures," Harvard University (School of Dental Medicine),
August 2002 Group Exhibitions Culture Center of Monterrey, Mexico,
July 1998 Museum of Fine Art Walloon, Belgium,