Born in Shanghai, China, Christopher Zhang came to Rhode Island College in 1990 to study for an MFA degree. At the East China Normal University in Shanghai, where he graduated in 1988, he eschewed traditional Chinese painting in favor of Western-style art. Even before attending the University, his portraits were so successful that he was employed by the State to paint huge likenesses of Chairman Mao on walls, banners, and the sides of buildings. In one of his enlargements, Zhang said, Mao's eye was as big as a 30" tabletop.

Zhang paints in oils on canvas and is totally dedicated to realism. It must have taken years of practice and discipline to perfect his superb technique, but having done so, he paints with astonishing speed. His goal as an artist is to preserve for posterity the rich heritage of all of China's fifty-plus ethnic minorities. He is reproducing, in minute detail and larger than life, the ethnic characteristics and tribal costumes of the Chinese peoples, including intricate ornaments, headgear, and trappings of office - a major contribution not only to China, but to anthropologists all over the world. He gives equal time to beggars, wanderers, inn-keepers, dancers, the man in the street, against backgrounds that infer, subtly, yet unmistakably, the `metier` of the person portrayed.

His idol is Rembrandt, and Zhang's veneration for the 17th century artist can be seen in his use of light and dark and his respect for truth; his brush traces every wrinkle. There is no thick and thin in the surface of Zhang's pictures; where he might have used thicker paint to suggest a fold, he makes do with a richer palette. Having turned away from the strictures of traditional Chinese art, Zhang quite obviously savors the wealth of nuance available to a Western-style painter of his caliber.

Already successful in China, Christopher Zhang has been given a number of shows since his arrival in America. Most of them were sell-outs. He has exhibited in Providence, RI; Charleston, SC; and six times in Boston, and received as many commissions as he can handle.

-Pamela G. Bond