Zheng Haozhong is a painter, musician, and writer. His figurative paintings often conflate his various artistic practices, depicting friends, acquaintances, and himself in his studio, capturing their expressions and psyches. These works carry a rhythmic quality with expressive brushstrokes that are freestyle and not confined within a rigid parameter, mirroring the music he plays. His characteristic use of negative space conjures the imagery of “liubai” (leave blank) in Chinese ink paintings, bringing out a linearity which delineates the features of his subjects.
Zheng graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 2008. In 2014, Zheng’s painting QIUCHEN was awarded the Grand Prize for the John Moores Painting Prize China and was exhibited at museums internationally including the National Museums Liverpool (Liverpool, 2015), Minsheng Museum (Shanghai, 2016), and later exhibited in Beijing and Macao. Zheng has held solo exhibitions in Aranya Art Center North (Beidaihe, 2024), Blindspot Gallery (Hong Kong, 2023), KWM Art Center (Beijing, 2018) and esea contemporary (Manchester, 2016) where he also had an artist residency. Zheng was previously artist-in-residence at Gwangju Museum of Art. His works are in the collection of White Rabbit Gallery (Australia), DSL Collection (France), the Moegling Foundation (USA), BY ART MATTERS (China), and Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University (China).
Zheng is identified by his pseudonym “Li Cha” in his online publications. He is also part of the band Dolphy Kick Bebop and Free Music Collective of Shanghai.
Zheng currently lives and works in Shanghai.
