Miranda Fengyuan Zhang

Miranda Fengyuan Zhang, hailing from Shanghai and currently residing in New York, employs the age-old tradition of textiles, using weaving and knitting as instruments for delving into the expressive vocabulary of painting. Her artistic fascination lies in those fleeting, often disregarded, and unnoticed moments that occur in the passage of time.

Biography of Miranda Fengyuan Zhang

Miranda Fengyuan Zhang was born in Shanghai, China, in 1993. Currently, she lives and works in New York, USA.

In 2016, she received her BFA in Studio Art from New York University in New York. The artist has also participated in various residencies, including La Maison de l'Art Contemporain Asilah in Morocco (2018) and Arquetopia Foundation International Artist-in-Residence Programs Oaxaca in Mexico (2021). 

Her notable solo exhibitions include "Thus to Sleep is Sweeter than to Wake" at Mendes Wood DM in Brussels (2022), "Scattered Lines" at Candice Madey in New York (2021), "A World Without Us" at Capsule Shanghai in Shanghai (2021), "All The Distant Places" at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton (2020), and "Nothing to Whine About" at Half-Gallery in Shanghai (2018).

Additionally, Miranda Fengyuan Zhang has participated in various group shows, including "Thread Routes" at MASSIMODECARLO in London (2023), "One Hundred Eighty-Six Billion Steps to the Sun" at Clearing Gallery in New York (2022), "Light, Stone & String" at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton (2021), "Gardens of Time" at Mendes Wood DM Gallery in New York (2020), among others. 

Miranda Fengyuan Zhang's Art Style

While the artist has chosen to concentrate on the medium of textiles, her creative journey has consistently revolved around image creation and establishing a rich dialogue with a wide array of sources. These sources encompass diverse influences such as 20th-century abstraction, Chinese ink paintings, and figures like Yasunari Kawabata, Wang Wei, Schumann, and Bach, among others.

In Miranda Fengyuan Zhang's early series of knitted works, her process is primarily intuitive. She expands her knowledge by experimenting with different threads and exploring the possibilities of texture and color. She enjoys taking her needles on journeys, creating a Garden of Eden, immersing herself in a realm of colors, and reminiscing about cool evenings in the desert and tranquil afternoons by the lake.

In a later phase of her practice, she added a loom to her studio. Despite working increasingly in solitude, she continues to draw inspiration from the external world and time in between. She weaves her memories, capturing the ever-changing play of light and shadow on the building outside her New York fire escape window, moments from her train ride between Geneva and Paris, and scenes from her walks through the rice fields.

Miranda Fengyuan Zhang crafts semi-abstract gardens, subtly defined landscapes, animal silhouettes, serene rivers, and multilayered, vibrant mountains, all in celebration of the rich mythology inherent in life and nature.