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Conquering the art world

By JIAN PING in Chicago for China Daily | China Daily USA | Updated: 2016-04-01 12:33

Sanzuo (left) and Dahuang, known as "The Zhou Brothers", with their painting in their studio in Chicago.

Painters who arrived in Chicago from Guangxi 30 years ago have drawn large following

The Zhou brothers, Sanzuo and Dahuang, two celebrated artists from Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region who have been living in Chicago since 1986, have been recognized as a driving force in the city's cultural scene.

"It's one way to be in Chicago, it's another way to open up Chicago to the world, and the world to Chicago," Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a ceremony honoring them last October.

Sanzuo, 64, and Dahaung, 59, are known as "The Zhou Brothers" because of their long-standing collaboration. They did their first joint painting, The Wave, in 1973 and have worked together on all of their paintings and sculptures ever since.

"We sometimes discuss our concept," said DaHuang. "But we seldom talk when we are working."

"We are two independent individuals working in conflict and harmony," said Sanzuo.

The result is works of art that involve both but are beyond the creativity of either.

When they first came to Chicago from China for an exhibition at the invitation of the East West Contemporary Art Gallery, they arrived with their paintings, $130 in their pockets between them and little to no command of the English language.

"We stopped at a friend's place in Los Angeles for a week, thinking we could learn English first," Sanzuo said with a laugh.

Their cherished ambition was to "conquer the world", as Dahuang wrote in a letter to their mother.

Their journey was not always a smooth one. They didn't sell any paintings at their first show, nor in the first few months, despite some positive media coverage. But they persisted, rejecting friends' advice to change their style to "cater to potential Western buyers".

In order to afford a place of their own where they could live and paint, they sold 10 of the paintings they had brought from China for a total of $1,500 to a gallery and rented an apartment on the South Side of Chicago for $250 a month.

They held their third exhibition less than a year after their arrival, bucking the customary practice of not having more than two shows a year.

It was their breakthrough. The show was held when the Chicago International Art Expo at Navy Pier was in session.

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