Chambers Fine Arts is pleased to announce the first showing in New York of Open My Door, the new series of works by the Zhou Brothers. In 1973 Shan Zuo and Da Huang, born respectively in 1952 and 1957 in Wuming (GuangxiProvince), painted their first collaborative work and since then all their work has been signed the Zhou Brothers. Born into a privileged and educated family, the brothers received a thorough training in calligraphy and brush painting. In addition to developing an understanding of classical forms of expression, the brothers were encouraged by their father to appreciate the prehistoric art of China as well as the living traditions of folk art. In 1986, after studies in Beijing and Shanghai which focused on oil painting, fresco painting and theatre, the brothers moved to Chicago where they have been living ever since.

Active as painters, print-makers, sculptors, and, on occasion, performance artists, the Zhou Brothers live and work in a vast studio that was formally a private club. It is where they relax but also where, in an unusual hermetic environment, they stimulate each other in the creation of a wide array of works in all media. As Christophe W. Mao has observed : "The Brothers left China before the more recent diaspora of Chinese artists and as is apparent from the scale and abandon of much of their best work of the last decade, they have not dwelt in the past." 

A new refinement is apparent in the diptychs, half lead and half silk, of the Open My Door series which develop and intermingle themes from the work of the last thirty years. As described by Alexa Olesen : " the viewer is met with a culmination of several decades of cooperative exploration. Expressionism, sculpture, painting and classical Chinese idioms come together in a series of pieces that are both pleasing to the eye and challenging to the intellect."

More images from this exhibition

Catalogue Available