As an abstract painter rooted in Philadelphia, I bring a wealth of education and experience to my craft. My love for art began at a young age and flourished through formal study, earning dual BFA degrees from Jilin University in China and West Chester University of Pennsylvania.

Before fully dedicating myself to painting, I worked as a senior graphic designer and brand manager at 4A advertising agencies and major technology companies in China, where I developed skills in creating imagery, characters, and advertising concepts using digital tools. Despite this professional background, I always felt deeply drawn to the traditional art of painting. This passion led me to continue my education in the United States, where I am now focused on developing my abstract painting practice, infused with personal experience, memory, and a unique cross-cultural perspective.

In addition to my studio practice, I have also been actively involved in K–12 art education for many years. Since 2025, I have formally operated my own art education business, ZAC Art Lab.

I joined Muse Gallery in Philadelphia in 2011 and completed a one-year artist residency at the Delaware Contemporary Museum in 2024.

EDUCATION:

BFA, West Chester University

BFA, Jilin University of China

ART STATEMENT:

My paintings explore the experience of the present moment through color, movement, and the passage of time. Working with handmade high-fluid acrylics on raw canvas, I allow pigments to soak, spread, and interact freely. The process embraces unpredictability, but it is never entirely accidental. Through careful adjustments of water, density, and viscosity, I guide how colors travel, blend, and settle, creating atmospheres that emerge between intention and chance.

Color is central to my practice. I see color not only as a visual element but as a way of sensing and responding to the world. Drawn from nature, memory, and emotion, each painting becomes an exploration of how color can hold feeling, movement, and presence. Behind every finished work are countless experiments, observations, and moments of waiting—an ongoing search for relationships that feel alive and authentic.

Patience is an essential part of my process. Sometimes an entire day is spent pouring a single layer of color or simply observing the surface, waiting for the right moment to continue. The level of wetness determines how the paint behaves—whether it forms a sharp edge, a soft transition, or a transparent veil. These decisions unfold slowly, allowing the painting to reveal its own possibilities over time.

After the fluid color fields have developed, I return to the surface with highly controlled lines. These deliberate marks introduce focus, structure, and clarity. They require a very different mindset from the earlier stages of the painting—one of concentration, reflection, and decision-making. As the final touches, they often determine whether a painting succeeds or fails. Through these lines, I respond to what has already occurred, bringing awareness back into a process shaped by movement and uncertainty.

The resulting works exist between control and release, stillness and motion, observation and action. Each painting becomes a record of a lived moment—holding energy, perception, and presence within a suspended field of time. Rather than depicting a specific place or event, the paintings invite viewers to slow down, linger, and experience the immediacy of the moment itself.