Dallas, TX
Southwest Gallery, October 15-November 15
Xiang Zhang, Dusty Canyon Drive, oil, 40 x 60.
This story was featured in the October 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
Chinese-born painter Xiang Zhang has always been fascinated by the horse. “They are very handsome animals. They are very important and admired by the Chinese people,” he says. “I was born in 1954. In the Chinese zodiac, I was born in the year of the horse.” So when Zhang, having immigrated to America from his home in China, was vacationing in Texas and saw fine art depicting the American West, he knew he had found his artistic subject matter.
This month, Southwest Gallery presents the artist’s most recent works in a solo show opening with an artist’s reception on Saturday, October 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. “We are constantly fascinated by the western aesthetics that Zhang brings to his paintings as he defines and salutes the American cowboy,” says gallery manager Melissa Butler. “He is always paying tribute to his passion for the majestic West.”
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- Xiang Zhang, Morning Market Provisions, oil, 32 x 40.
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- Xiang Zhang, The Grand Opera House, oil, 46 x 72.
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- Xiang Zhang, Gettin’ Down to Business, oil, 42 x 72.
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- Xiang Zhang, A Hundred Years Ago, oil, 48 x 54.
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- Xiang Zhang, Dusty Canyon Drive, oil, 40 x 60.
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- Xiang Zhang, San Antonio Stroll, oil, 32 x 40.
The nearly 20 new works in the show, ranging in size from 16 by 20 to 46 by 72 inches, feature both contemporary and historic scenes of the West. An example of the latter is THE GRAND OPERA HOUSE, which depicts an American cowboy and a Mexican cowboy at the head of a herd of longhorns being driven through historic San Antonio. The Grand is visible on the left, and the palatial post office is seen in the background—both are now long gone. “The cowboys would gather young cattle from around the San Antonio area—2,000 to 5,000 cattle—and enough supplies for the trip,” Zhang explains. To reach Kansas City, where the animals would then be shipped by rail to markets elsewhere in the country, they had to drive the cattle all across Texas—facing bad weather, lack of water, and stampedes—and then through Oklahoma, which was Indian territory. “These wonderful dramatic stories are what I show in my paintings,” Zhang says.
Zhang’s perspective, and the traditional techniques he was trained in, continue to be popular with collectors in the Southwest. “Xiang is a Texan at heart, and his collectors embrace his painterly portrayals of the western cowboy,” Butler says. —Laura Rintala
contact information
972.960.8935
www.swgallery.com
This story was featured in the October 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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