Biography
Mary Zhang was born in Yunnan, China. However, she has chosen Riga as her heart home for several years already. Her real name is Huang Ge Zhang, but she has adopted a second name which sounds better in Europe. Zhang is an architect and artist. She graduated from Beijing University of Civil Engineering & Architecture in 1990. She has devoted 20 years of her life to a professional career in urban architecture but then decided to move away from China with her family. A few years later, she discovered Riga and stayed here to live, work and learn.
Mary Zhang’s call is to understand the diversity between Eastern and Western cultures, to help the locals develop a good relationship with the Chinese people and to overcome the gap between the two nations. In 2016 she established a platform for promoting the cooperation between Latvia and China – the Latvian and Chinese Culture Association (LCAC).
In 2015, Mary Zhang experienced her first personal exhibition in the Riga Central Library, entitled “Latvia – Small and Beautiful Country”. Then in 2016, in Chinese Monkey year, she held her next exhibition there. In 2016 in Beijing there was organized a photo and art exhibition “SHOW YOU”, within the project of LCAC.
After participating in “Art Riga Fair 2016” - the annual art festival, Mary Zhang founded the "European Qi Pao Association", which represents one of the traditional types of Chinese dresses.
Artistic description
Mary Zhang classic pen drawings captivate with its thematic diversity – in strong line rhythms she brings in detailed architectural depictions, landscapes, figurative compositions and more. The precision of shape and details are her specialty, but what she does best is a speed drawing technique with limited time. The line graphic and calligraphic brushstrokes typical of China’s school, have trained Mary to skillfully create these filigree works of art. The images are often added artist’s comments of the painted scene – both in Chinese hieroglyphs and in Latin letters.
Mary Zhang paints portraits, illustrations, urban landscapes, animals in both watercolors and oil colors, as well as monochrome ink drawings. Her secret lies in the obtained unique skills in speed drawing, precise comprehension of composition and control.
While living in China, Mary Zhang operated only with traditional materials, but when she moved to Europe, the dark ink was replaced with bright oil colors, and the thin rice paper - with rough canvas. Nevertheless, her cultural heritage will never be forgotten – Mary holds lessons in Chinese calligraphy, praising this beautiful type of art to Latvians.
Interesting facts
Mary Zhang is learning the Latvian language from the year 2017.
Mary Zhang believes that Latvia is the best place to delve into art and live a peaceful lifestyle with her family – husband and her daughter. Here she can dedicate her creative energy to art alone.
Mary Zhang has obtained her art skills from the well-known artist in China master Yuan Ji, being his assistant for 10 years. Mary believes that the best qualities in her artworks are gained exactly from this teacher.
