Artist Statement: In 2015 Zi Zi has absorbed the West Kandinsky and Mondrian cold and hot abstract style and created the piano "Melding Love.” Zi Zi wanted to call into question the cultural boundaries of today’s world through the medium of a piano. She renders the English words "Love," "Peace," and "Hope," through the Zi' English calligraphy process, in turn imbuing them with Chinese visual characteristics. In her painting over the piano, Zi Zi chose red and yellow to draw roses, a favorite flower color of the West. She combines the East and the West in that red and yellow are often used in Chinese traditional paintings of the flowers, a favorite flower in China. In her "A Rose Always in Fashion," an art work with her unique “Zi style”, she not only absorbed the modern Western style of impressionism and abstract art, but also used “flying white,” a technique often used in the art of Chinese calligraphy. This unique art work has won over the public as well as art lovers. She used different visual media, sumi ink, acrylic, and painted the piano that was used in Melding Love’s creation, which draws from disparate cultural and artistic practices. She sought out a blurry aesthetic to further emphasize the ambiguities in modern cultural existence— ways we, by choice or not, live synergetic and uncertain lives in a melding and globalizing public art world. over the years. Zi Zi’s work has made it into the homes of people in 69 countries to date, and wanted to explore the ways people connect through art, even if through the virtual reality of web space. Images and auspices of peace and love are popular the world over. Zi Zi is inspired to create art drawing from even more cultural and linguistic heritages. She often thinks of her supporters and the network of images and human connection around the world as a floating museum of her artistic endeavors she gets to bring with her wherever she goes. Zi Zi wanted to play with the piano, and create a piece that blurred the lines between word and image, as Chinese characters themselves are pictographic as well.
Deeply rooted in Chinese tradition yet widely informed by Western art, multi-media artist Zi Zi (legal name Xu Zi) pioneers a new form of East ink art which seamlessly blends traditional Chinese calligraphic art with Western abstract art forms. Writing in English and other languages but following one of the main styles of Chinese traditional calligraphy called Li Shu, Zi Zi brings together the East and the West, and bridges tradition and modernity. She often combines her ink art with Western style abstract art, presented on her own hand-made rice paper, customized wood blocks, hand-made scrolls and other types of single medium or mixed media. Based in New York City, Zi Zi grew up in China and has been trained in Chinese calligraphy, fine art, and ancient Chinese music. It is her passion and artistic mission to marry the East and the West, tradition and modernity in order to create an art form shared by all citizens across the globe. She envisions her ink art as a noble but accessible art form which transcends time, borders, politics, religion, color, gender, and other social divisions. Zi’ Multilingual Calligrapher has now reached art lovers and collectors around the world in 69 countries. Zi Zi has performed internationally, and her art works have been exhibited in New York and collected by dignitaries as well as the general public. In 2013, her new unique paint & song “Flowers for the Peaceful World,” appeared in the Sing for Hope Pianos public art project! In 2015, Zi Zi has group and solo artworks exhibited at Chelsea gallery in New York, New York Public Library, etc. Her philosophy is: art without borders; only innovation can sustain; a form of art can have a wide range of market potentials only if it is widely accepted by the people.
