Artist ZhaoKai

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b.1999, Liaoning, China

Artist Zhao Kai currently resides and works in Liaoning. In 2021, he participated in the Wheel-less Contour group exhibition in Shenzhen. In 2023, Zhao was involved in several exhibitions, including one in Yangzhou, the Shanghai Oil Tank Art Festival, the Into the Net group exhibition in Xiamen, the True Self exhibition in Guangzhou, and the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts Youth Art Fair. In 2021, he also took part in the Attentionism exhibition in Shenyang. Zhao won an award at the ICAD International Contemporary Young Art and Design Competition in 2020. In 2024, he showcased his work in the Long Teng Yao Dong Fang series, as well as in Guangzhou’s About Me exhibition, The Smallest Utopia in the World exhibition, the Updraft exhibition at the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Youth Art Fair, and the Updraft exhibition at the Beijing Contemporary Art Fair. Additionally, he exhibited at the Bai Chang Transform Exhibition in 2024.

Zhao's early Unrefined Animals series drew primarily from surrealism, influenced by artists like Magritte and Dalí. Many of these works were created spontaneously, often exploring recurring themes of self-anxiety and inner conflict, reflecting the artist's personal struggles. His subsequent Suffering series delved into feelings of helplessness while critiquing the world, marking his shift from exploring the self to addressing external societal issues. This series also incorporated symbols of local culture, representing the artist’s evolving perception of the world around him.

Zhao Kai’s statement for the piece Son of the Earth reads: "Since I can remember, my childhood has always been a split between my inner world and reality. The long-standing repression made my character solitary and strange, and my heart has remained stuck in those childhood days, turning into a broken child who desires love but also fears it. I have gazed at him countless times in the dark, as though staring into the abyss. After teaching in my hometown, I gradually merged with the Northeast land, which constantly enveloped my heart with growing plants. For the first time, I truly found an answer in life. My perspective began to shift, and I seemed to recognize another self in the hearts of the children around me, a similar lonely, twisted child. These children born on the plains, do they truly belong to this land? With broken faces, they are born and fade away on the earth."