by Website Editor, 15 August 2012

This is the second in an occasional series of interviews focussing on individuals from Scotland and China who have spent a lengthy period in the other country.

Chi Zhang is an artist who has lived in Scotland for seven years, and is now based at the Confucius Institute for Scotland in the University of Edinburgh. His works have been exhibited at the Henan Province Art Centre in 1999 ; the Tramway Visual Art Centre, Glasgow, in 2006 ; and Visual Arts Scotland annual exhibition 2012 in the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh. We met him – appropriately enough during the Festival season – to hear more about his background, his time in Scotland and his work.

Zhengzhou city in Henan Province, Chi's hometown, is one of the oldest cities in China, and was the ancient capital of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046BC). The area's links to the history of calligraphy and Chinese writing are even stronger, as the famous “Oracle Bones” were found in Anyang city, northeast of Zhengzhou, in the 1920s. These have the earliest known examples of Chinese characters.

So, against this rich cultural background, it is perhaps not surprising that Chi began his artistic career at a very early age. “I began painting when I was about three or four”, he says, adding “my first exhibition was in Japan in 1991, when I was only ten”. Chi explained he had been much influenced by his great-grandfather, a skillful and highly educated artist and calligrapher.

Chi's early achievements in painting were nurtured by his family and teachers in Middle School, where he began to develop a keen interest in calligraphy as well as traditional Chinese painting. His first calligraphy exhibition was in 1997 at the Henan Province Art Centre. It was logical for him to go on to study art and design at the Beijing Institute of Printing, graduating in 2004.

It was at this point in Chi's life that fate brought him to Scotland, in the shape of the high reputation of the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design in Dundee. There, he completed a Master's degree in Media Arts & Imaging in 2006. Another significant factor was the Scottish Government's “Fresh Talent” scheme, launched in 2005, which allowed students to apply to stay and work in Scotland for two years after the end of their course without the need for a work permit. Under this scheme, after graduation Chi worked for the advertising and design agency Marketing Concepts in Edinburgh, before taking up his current post in early 2008. Through his weekly classes and occasional workshops at the Confucius Institute, Chi reveals the art and ethos of calligraphy and brush painting to a wide audience.

Chi's current paintings focus on Scottish landscape, with distinctive features of ancient Chinese style as well as expressions of contemporary art. As he explains, “I am experienced in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, and now experimental in combining contemporary art forms and elements from ancient Chinese works of art”.

He adds, “I am drawing on classical style, but trying to make the paintings contemporary and to focus on simplicity, to try to find the unseen reality behind the scenes”. He is also using his experience in Scotland, its landscapes and iconic buildings, and “especially the atmospheric weather !” The lighthouse painting shown on this page is one example of this kind of influence.

With growing interest in China and the art form of China, Chi has taken part in numerous culture events with the institute ; he delivers workshops, live performances of Chinese calligraphy and public demonstrations. He performed in the Edinburgh's Scottish Story Telling Centre in 2008 and later in the National Museum of Scotland in 2009, and he recently hosted a special event at the McManus Art Gallery & Museum in Dundee. Chi also provided the calligraphy frontispiece for all the poems in Selected Poems by Robert Burns in Chinese Translation, which was published by the Edinburgh University Press in 2010.

Chi has found local people are taking considerable interest in his Scottish/Chinese paintings, and he is aiming to develop his work further in the coming years, “both in terms of quality and quantity”, as well as more exhibitions and books. Although he is a long way from Zhengzhou, Chi has clearly found a second home in Scotland, and his art will continue to bring together the most interesting “unseen realities” of both countries.

Details of Chi Zhang's calligraphy classes can be found here. Chi's own blog site is here.