Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father

Michael Chow aka Zhou Yinghua: Voice for My Father, first exhibited at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, is Michael Chow’s first solo exhibition in the U.S. The exhibition features three main bodies of work, which include new paintings completed expressly for The Warhol show, vintage photographs of the artist’s father Zhou Xinfang—a grand master of the Beijing Opera—and a collection of portraits of Chow painted by his contemporaries, such as Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Ed Ruscha. The new canvases are dramatic and expressionistic large-scale works that bring together an array of varied materials, such as household paint and precious metals. The dense layers and complexity of materials create paintings that have rich tactile surfaces, evoking a sculptural feel. This exhibition was conceived as a homage to the artist’s father, and it is thought of as a return to the creative voice embodied for the artist by his father.

Chow was born in Shanghai in 1939, and he now resides in California. Chow studied painting at the Saint Martin’s School of Art and then at the Hammersmith School of Building and Architecture, both in London, before changing course and opening his first restaurant MR CHOW in 1968, which became an international success, spawning locations around the globe. MR CHOW operates in seven locations around the world and has become synonymous with high-end Chinese cuisine and the diverse set of artists and luminaries for whom the restaurant was (and remains) a social hub. Now after nearly 50 years, he has returned to his first passion and paints almost daily.

This exhibition is organized for The Warhol by Jessica Beck, associate curator of art.