Zhichao Huang, 1941–2025
By ANNABEL PRESTON
Portrait of ZHICHAO HUANG. Courtesy ARTouch, Taipei.
Earlier this month, Chinese multidisciplinary artist Zhichao Huang (also known as Dennis Huang) passed away at the age of 84. He was best known for his eclectic and colorful compositions blending Eastern and Western painting styles, as well as small sculptures and ink paintings depicting pared-back or abstract forms.
Huang was born in 1941 in Gulangyu, an island off the coast of Xiamen, but moved to Taiwan at 9 years old with his family. In his practice, he drew inspiration from two artists—Chinese modernist Shiy De-jinn and Taiwanese ink master Wu Xuerang—and emphasized Chinese traditional painting, calligraphy, Taoist magic, and folk art as indispensable stepping stones on his creative journey. He held a particular interest in the human body, natural and built landscapes, and horses.
Despite his background in traditional Chinese ink and literati painting, Huang was also fascinated by Western art movements such as Fauvism. In 1971, he was invited by the US State Department for a cultural exchange and exhibition initiative at San Francisco’s nonprofit Society for Asian Art (formerly the Asia Art Society of America), and in the following year he studied at the Pratt Institute in New York.
Huang held teaching positions at the American School in Taipei and the Montgomery Julie Art Institute in Washington, DC. After living in the US for more than four decades, he returned to Taiwan in recent years and fully devoted himself to his practice. His final works—which reference the cityscapes of Taiwan as well as his hometown in Xiamen—capture Huang’s yearning for his birthplace after living abroad for so long.
Annabel Preston is an assistant editor at ArtAsiaPacific.
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