Zeng Hao (born 1963) is a Chinese contemporary artist.
Zeng currently works in Beijing., Power Station of Art. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
Life
Zeng Hao (曾浩) was born in Kunming in 1963. He graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1989."Zeng Hao", Hanart. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
Famous for his critique of consumerism, Zeng once said that "Man is endlessly creating materials, but in the end he will be chained down by these objects, who is serving who?"."Zeng Hao - an oil painter who understands the changes of the times", Guangdong Museum of Art. Retrieved 13 June 2025. In another interview, Zeng said "As I get older, I find that people are too insignificant, just like ants. You can be tossed around in any way you want... I think people have nothing personal at all, they are all shaped, like 'industrial products.'""Finding Something that Moves You: Interview between Mao Hung and Zeng Hao", Artlinkart. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
As a representative of the "New Figurative" style of painting,"Zeng Hao", CCARDT. Retrieved 13 June 2025. Zeng was originally dismissed as a teacher at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts due to his unconventional painting style."Hao Zeng", Archus Post-Modern. Retrieved 13 June 2025. Nonetheless, Zeng subsequently became recognized for his "balloon series" in the early 90s, and then for his irregular portraitures of people - which then evolved into his series of paintings of "little people" (large paintings with small disproportionately-sized drawings of furniture and people scattered around the canvas)"Exhibition of Zeng Hao — Invitation" , Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 15 June 2025."Work by Zeng Hao", Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 15 June 2025. in the mid 90s up until the late 2000s. In the 2010s, Zeng progressed to installation art."biennale 2009_partecipazioni nazionali La Cina e i cinesi", Exibart. Retrieved 15 June 2025. Throughout the years, disproportionately-sized people and furniture in large negative spaces are a constant theme in his work; many of the works also feature a specific time and date in their titles.
Zeng's paintings and works has been exhibited at various museums and exhibitions around the world,"Zeng Hao", Chinese New Art. Retrieved 16 June 2025."Infinitely Small and Infinitely Big: Zeng Hao's Miraculous Space", Ynzchinese. Retrieved 16 June 2025. including the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (2001), the Museum Ludwig (2002), the Shanghai Gallery of Art (2004, 2006), the Guangdong Museum of Art (2007), the Singapore Art Museum (2008), the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea (2010), the Hunan Museum (2009), the Hubei Provincial Museum (2009), the Minsheng Museum (2012, 2015), the, Chengdu Biennale (2011), the Sao Paulo Biennial (2002), The Triennial of Chinese Arts (2002), the Prague Biennale (2005), the Shanghai Biennale (2008) and the Venice Biennale (2009)."chinese pavilion: 'what is to come (jian wei zhi zhu)' at venice art biennale 09", Designboom. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
References
External links Zeng Hao "Changing Trends of Chinese Oil Painting, using Zeng Hao as an Example" "Running Towards an Abstract Truth - Understanding Zeng Hao's Works" "ArtDepot Beijing space will soon exhibit new works by artist Zeng Hao" "Questioning and Exploring: Why Exhibitions Concern Society in the Contemporary Context" "Zeng Hao: Using a Direct Way of Thinking" "The 53 Venice Biennale China Pavilion: Artists and Their Works"