2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Zhenyu Zhang is a New York-based Chinese-born artist working in mix media painting and performance art. Her work materializes narratives associated with migration and cultural amnesia and nostalgia.

Zhang’s conceptual works act as the filter to her mind that is the vessel; despite processing these things through art making, residual unresolved sentiments remain in the sieve that constantly evolve. She admits that the unsifted things and thoughts of her ambivalent world is not without its merits. The predispositions she rushed through life with did not always lead to the right path in the given moment. Through continuous introspection, she has created her own set of values.

Zhang’s work is autobiographical, often referencing her eastern birth and cultural background. But she has been immersed in a western culture since adolescence. Nonetheless, she abstains from leaning towards any ideology. This impartial approach of worldly outlook on life and values is shaped by her experience of cultural differences. Yet, choosing the middle ground isolates her between opposing cultural ideas. Blurring reality and fiction, her projects blend cues of the real time-space to create.

Zhenyu Zhang is a New York-based Chinese-born artist working in mix media painting and performance art. She currently works in New York. She is currently pursuing an MFA at Parsons – The New School and she went to Alfred University for fine arts Foundation program and holds a BFA from California College of the Arts. Her discipline painting is mostly realized through ink, acrylic, and mixed media. Her work materializes narratives associated with migration and cultural amnesia and nostalgia.

Zhang’s conceptual works act as the filter to her mind that is the vessel; despite processing these things through art making, residual unresolved sentiments remain in the sieve that constantly evolve. She admits that the unsifted things and thoughts of her ambivalent world is not without its merits. The predispositions she rushed through life with did not always lead to the right path in the given moment. Through continuous introspection, she has created her own set of values. Zhang’s work is autobiographical, often referencing her eastern birth and cultural background. But immersed in a western culture since adolescence. Nonetheless, she abstains from leaning towards any ideology. This impartial approach of worldly outlook on life and values is shaped by her experience of cultural differences. Yet, choosing the middle ground isolates her between opposing cultural ideas. Blurring reality and fiction, her projects blend cues of the real time-space to create.