Let's start by pronouncing the name correctly. It's shao-gang drew. People call him Shao and people are buying everything he can produce. He has six galleries to supply—including one of his own in the Seattle area—with his loosely painted works that are often set in China. Xiaogang Zhu came to the U.S. only a little more than six years ago. He did undergraduate work in China and then spent seven years as a textile designer, graphic artist and art professor. In the U.S. he can do less teaching, he says, and more painting.
Each year has gotten better in terms of sales, but 1995 was a banner year Shao speculates that the dam broke on sales in 1995 because some collectors were holding back, waiting to see if he would last. It may have been the economy too, he says.
All along, he has kept it simple, concentrating on strong images and color coupled with unusual subject matter, in his case Chinese cities and landscapes from the Yang-tze River area he's familiar with. People will buy art, he says, if paintings contain good color and patterns along with subjects that are new and interesting. His Chinese paintings have sold best in Scottsdale and Victoria, B.C. His galleries in Denver and Friday Harbor Wash., do best with his Northwest material.
Shao sometimes works in oils but really loves gouache. He's a member of the American Watercolor Society. With prices still relatively modest ($500 to $5,000), he’d like to do some larger paintings. His routine size at this time is 14" x 20". He also plans to experiment with traditional Chinese ink paintings. He admires the abstract, two-dimensional aspect of contemporary art, the arrangement of big patterns on flat space. No matter how he ends up expressing that interest, he mainly wants to learn what an artist must learn to become better. That, he adds, “has no end to it."
He takes his family responsibilities seriously including helping with the family art and framing business near his home and helping to raise his 11-year-old son. The success he's had selling paintings has created more pressure and relieved it at the same time. “I feel the pressure, yes, each time before I paint. When I start to paint I forget that. It's more instinct. I think about color, brush strokes and all that, and the pressure is reduced.”
Because of Shao's subject matter, his schedule includes trips to China. lt can be a busy, complicated life, he says. But when it comes to art, he keeps his philosophy consistent and simple. "I think if your picture is good then people will buy it. I don't want to be arrogant, but I think my paintings are special, and I put a lot of myself into them."
