Daqian Zhang

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Daqian Zhang

Aged 25

Florence Academy of Art

Instructor(s): Jordan Sokol, Amaya Gurpide, Stephen Bauman, Cornelia Hernes

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  • Artworks

St.Jerome

Charcoal and white chalk

25 x 19 ins (63.5 x 48.26 cms)

Tedecia

Charcoal and white chalk

25 1/2 x 18 1/2 ins (64.77 x 46.99 cms)

Still life with white

Oil

12 x 24 ins (30.48 x 60.96 cms)

Watering can

Oil

20 x 16 ins (50.8 x 40.64 cms)

Santiago

Oil

20 x 16 ins (50.8 x 40.64 cms)

Self portrait

Oil

19 x 15 ins (48.26 x 38.1 cms)

Figure of Santiago

Oil

34 x 16 ins (86.36 x 40.64 cms)

In praise of shadows

Oil

17 x 27 ins (43.18 x 68.58 cms)

My educational goal is to finish my fourth year program in Florence Academy of Art by March of 2019. In the recent months I have began to unlock a much better understanding for the technical aspect of traditional art, and now I need the continued guidance of FAA more than ever. In the upcoming year, with help from ARC I would like to use my more matured artistic insight to continue develop my personal take on realism art.
After my graduation, I plan to further my self-growth through continued art making. Through the theme of still life paintings and narrative focused paintings, I plan to investigate deeper into my Chinese American background by researching Eastern picture making philosophy, specifically Chinese watercolor of Tang and Song dynasties. By reflecting their unique mark making, composition and perspectives through oil painting and contrast them with my experience in western art, I believe empirical knowledge about how we emotionally interact with the world can be distilled during the process.
Furthermore, I plan to explore on the possibility of becoming an art educator. For this goal, I have spent my past four summers working as drawing instructor for students from teenagers to adults, and my experiences with them lead me to believe that there are still many misunderstandings about realism art in the contemporary world that demands rectifying. As a student privileged enough to receive an authentic education in realism, I feel the responsibility to be part of the bridge that carries the lineage of traditional art down to future generations.
Daqian Zhang is a Chinese American art student. He was born in 1992 in Shenyang, China, and moved to United States at a young age. His passion for art was kindled during his pursuit of an undergraduate degree in biomedical science, and art quickly became a field of great interest for him. 
Scientific at heart, Daqian found himself attracted to realism, fascinated by how powerful illusions are conjured by the understanding of scientific visual phenomenons, and how artists throughout the ages utilized them to evoke deep psychological responses among the viewers. To Daqian, realism is the best combination between his love for objective truth, and his passion for giving these truths human significance. After his graduation from Texas A&M University with a minor in Art in 2014, Daqian immediately applied for the newly opened U.S. branch of Florence Academy of Art and was accepted in the spring of 2015, where he stayed as a student until now.
During Daqians' past three years he served as one of the studio assistants in FAA, and earned awards such as Best Bargue Drawing Award 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, Best Portrait Award 2016-2017, as well as having his cast drawing of écorché in permanent collection of FAA through a purchase award in 2017. Recently his charcoal drawing, Tedecia, has been honored as one of the Select 50 in Portrait Society of America's 2018 International Portrait Competition.