ZHANG HAOYAN

Zhang Haoyan (b.1996) was born in Zibo, Shandong Province, and graduated from UAL with a degree in Fine
Art. He currently lives and works in Shanghai.

Zhang’ s practice spans multiple media including painting, video, and writing. Through an archaeological approach to classic screen imagery across different periods and regions, he interweaves personal experiences with popular culture and the broader dynamics of globalization and de-globalization. By reconstructing the integrity of specific characters and reinserting them into their original socio-historical contexts, his work enables viewers to re-encounter moments in history. This process creates a linear extension and repair of historical content through the lens of individual memory.

His creative thinking, the “box” has become a creative prop in modern society that satisfies the demands of media and imagery. The visual experiences established and summarized by a large number of typified and serialized films are packaged in a formulaic manner within the “box” and then distributed to the audience. For example, compared with the classic fictional characters and visual effects created based on the personal aesthetic styles of special effects artists in the pre-CGI era, the Hollywood-style industrialized CGI processing has gradually become more homogeneous, evolving into a fixed and clichéd visual pattern. This, in turn, has become an object shaped and regulated by the “box.” , It also critiques the way empiricists popularize and arrange visual experiences.

Recent exhibitions:
海上屋 , Art Pdf + ShanghArt, Shanghai, 2025；Z Generation of Third Culture:Interculture Child, Soul Art, Beijing, 2025；Whispers of Entropy, O2art, Beijing, 2025；From Hen to Egg, ShanghArt, Shanghai, 2025；Artists for LA Fire Relief, MAKE ROOM,Los Angeles,2025;SUPERCROWDS/SUPERCOMMUNITY,Tank Shanghai, Shanghai, 2024；X Collection 202: Portrait of a Manr,X Museum,Beijing,2024；Mille Cortex,Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong, 2023；Global Citizens – Asia, The Shophouse, Hong Kong, 2023；Fantasy，on the edge of the earth, Gene Gallery, Shanghai, 2022；A Grand Memory, Bund 18 Jiushi Art Space, Shanghai, 2022