Wanxin Zhang was born in ChangChun, China, and spent his formative years in the 1960s and 70s under the Mao regime. He was part of the first generation to receive a formal art education in college subsequent to the Cultural Revolution in 1976. After moving to California in the early 1990s, Zhang was inspired by the work of Peter Voulkos, Robert Arneson and Stephen De Staebler.

Wanxin Zhang: The Long Journey is the first museum solo presentation of Wanxin Zhang’s work in San Francisco. This exhibition is a survey of Zhang’s ceramic sculpture from 2006 to 2017 and celebrates the artist’s signature style—a hybrid of California Funk influence and nods to Chinese history. Zhang’s monumental clay figures are at once irreverent and troubling, evoking the tension inherent in globalization, politics and power. He demonstrates this through his mastery of the malleable qualities of clay, reshaping traditional symbols and iconography with contemporary pop culture.

A publication accompanying the exhibition featuring a comprehensive essay by Deborah Bishop will be available for purchase in the museum store.

Presented in partnership with the Catharine Clark Gallery.