Studios Inc welcomes two new artists into the Residency Program

Studios Inc is happy to announce the two artists that will be inducted into Studio Inc’s Artist Residency program in 2022: Harold Smith and Hong Chun Zhang. 

Harold Smith

Harold Smith is a mid-career artist and an educator for the past 35 years. Smith is a Kansas City born and based visual artist. He has been internationally exhibited and collected. His work includes painting, collage,mixed media, performance, video, sound, and assemblage. 

Smith’s  practice is grounded in the social commentary  tradition of figurative urban expressionism embodied by artists such  as Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Kerry James Marshall, and others. His broad practice addresses issues regarding the complexity of the black male experience in the Western world.  Smith seeks to explore the tension between Westernized attitudes towards and societal perceptions of black masculinity and how these attitudes and perceptions impact it.  His usage of clashing palettes and aggressive strokes creates a visual incarnation of the issues addressed in his work. 

“Untitled” from the Man of Color Series, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches, 2021

Smith states, “I am primarily a painter and would use the space to work on larger works, maybe some assemblages, and video work. Also, I would be able to use my oil paints which I cannot use in my current situation.”

Hong Chun Zhang

For over 20 years, Hong Chun Zhang’s studio practice has evolved from explorations of self to broader themes of gender, cross culture, the environment, social justice, equity, diversity, and unity.

Zhang is a mid-career artist who combines Chinese traditional fine style technique with contemporary ideas and draws from her experiences in China as well as the United States. Both in form and in process, Zhang’s work contains richly layered fine details on a massive scale. Her trademark works are large black and white charcoal drawings of long black hair that explore her identity as a Chinese immigrant, woman, and mother.

“Waterfall 1”, Chinese ink on Italian fabric, 30 x 5’, 2019

Zhang states, “For the next 3 years, I would like to take advantage of the space at Studios Inc to execute large-scale works not only for exhibition at Studios Inc but also for upcoming shows at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Spencer Museum of Art, and for the new Kansas City International Airport. This new body of work will move beyond my previous two-dimensional charcoal work on paper, in which viewers had always been intentionally separated from the installation and were able to view it only from a distance. ...The public is invited to walk in and around the installation as well as touch the work. Thus, the visitor can actually “enter” and be unified with the work.”