Junzhu Zhang
I began to paint and draw even before I was 3 years old. I was born in Beijing, China. I don't think my parents are like the other normal Chinese parents, because in my memory they never pushed me in studying the academic courses at my schools. Instead, we traveled to a lot of different countries in the world, approximately 20 countries so far. My mother always supports me in my fine art training, which is my most favorite thing to do after school. My parents manage the first private Rhythmic Music School in mainland China.
Some Chinese people call it the first Rock 'n' Roll Music School in China, but my father often told me that actually Blues, Jazz, and Rock music are the 3 main musical styles taught in his school. They also created and organized the first outdoor music festival in mainland China, if you search the Chinese Woodstock on the internet, you will find the Midi Festival which my father and mother set up. I was expected to be trained more in music than fine art by my father.
Although I also like music, he gave up on me being a musician when he realized that the Visual Arts field might be my mission in my life.
After my family immigrated to the US, I came to OCSA because I only wanted to attend an excellent art high school, so my family moved to Southern California from Seattle for me to attend OCSA. Thanks very much to my parents!
Van Gogh and Munch are the artists who influenced me very much, at the same time, I also like Japanese Ukiyoe style very much. In the fashion field, Yamamoto Yohji and Alexander McQueen impressed me very much.
Among various trails of visual arts, I feel I like fine art the most, especially in painting and sculpture. I began to focus on the mixed media path to express my work since last year. Besides fine-art works, I think fashion design is also a wonderful way for me to express my feelings and passion. I like to create many different details for fashion work and make a garment that is also a real artwork.
I will be attending an art college next Fall, (still choosing which college). I have been accepted to and received scholarships from wonderful art colleges, such as Parsons and Otis for fashion design and SVA and CCA for Illustration. I'm still waiting to hear from other excellent schools such as RISD, ArtCenter and Pratt, and UAL (Saint Martin). I look forward to learning more techniques and new skills in college.
My dream is to someday in the future, have my own personal fashion design studio, maybe in New York, maybe in Los Angeles, or maybe in China, Taiwan, or Japan. When people walk into my studio, they will see my designed fashions on the coat-hangers, they will see my paintings on the wall, and they will see my sculptures and other 3-D or mixed media works displayed in the corners.
Project Gallery
