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Zhou Jun)
Zhou Jun is a Chinese artist best known for his works featuring a red streamer wrapped around iconic buildings such as CCTV's headquarters in Beijing. Born in 1965, Zhou lives and works in Beijing.
Date & Place of Birth
Zhou was born in Nanjing in 1965.
Education & Development
In 1990, Zhou graduated from the Department of Photography at the Art School of Nanjing Normal University.
Art
Zhou Jun, China Central Television, Digital C - print, 200 x 300cm, 2006.
China’s rapidly increasing economic growth as well as the lead-up to the Olympics led to an explosion of construction and development in cities and villages, and this urbanisation is reflected in the work of many Chinese artists including Zhou Jun's. Zhou’s work emerges from construction sites and testifies to his ambivalent feelings about the expansion of Chinese cities, which excites even while inevitably eroding and subverting traditional architecture. He has developed his own unique narrative language using black and white images on which certain areas, particularly within or around the scaffolding, are highlighted in red. In the Hall of Supreme Harmony construction site in the middle of Beijing’s Forbidden City, the entire surrounding scaffolding is dyed red.
[1] 
Zhou Jun, Tai He Men No.1, Digital C - print (edition of 10), 120 x 150cm, 2007.
An image of the architectural masterpiece that will undoubtedly be best remembered from the 2008 Olympics – the national sports stadium known as the Bird’s Nest – emphasizes the delicacy of the enormous structure by highlighting in red the network of scaffolding and surrounding railings. The colour red is of special significance in China. While it is often used on ceremonial occasions such as weddings and festivals, it also represents communist ideology and governmental power as well as, to many people, political bloodshed and social turmoil. The red in Zhou Jun’s photographs not only acts as a visual marker but also allows the viewer to lend the images their own interpretation.
[1] Exhibitions
For Zhou Jun's exhibition history, click here.
Gallery Affiliation(s)
Zhou Jun is represented by Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, and Rossi & Rossi in London.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.absolutearts.com/artsnews/2008/08/07/35138.html
