Starting his fine art career at a very young age, Yan-Zhou Xu quickly became recognized in his native China as an artist whose skills surpassed his years.  His paintings constantly push the creative boundaries of traditional realism and delve into the dimensions of the surreal.  But it is his ability to portray the many facets of ordinary life with vibrant colors and thought-provoking insight that has helped him receive numerous awards and honors in many countries. 

When Xu was only 19, his paintings were exhibited in the China National Fine Arts Museum in Beijing and appeared on Chinese Central Television.  At 21 he was the only artist in all China to have two oil paintings selected from among tens of thousands for the prestigious Sixth National Art Exhibition, where he won the Award for Excellence.  At 24, he became the youngest artist accepted into the Chinese National Society of Artists, and within three years also became the youngest oil painter in Chinese history to have a solo exhibition at the Chinese National Fine Art Museum and a catalogue of his works published by a state public press in China.   At that time, five of Xu's paintings were in the permanent collection of the China National Fine Arts Museum and six are in the permanent collection of the China International Art Exhibition Center.  His paintings have been exhibited at art museums and galleries around the world, and are included in important collections in Europe, Asia and North America.  His work has become so prominent in China that examples of it are now shown in textbooks.

" To serve society as a responsible artist, I must seek to capture the universe, to build my own visual language, and to create new symbols which reflect the times in which we live.  By limiting my stage to the size of the easel, my goal is to create a tension in which I push maximum freedom in texture, lighting, color, and subject matter to present a reasonable balance between the rational and the irrational."

Yan-Zhou Xu makes his home in Colorado where he continues to paint with the technique of a skilled craftsman and the deep feelings of a passionate artist.

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