Klein Sun Gallery, in collaboration with the Supporting Active Young Artist Project (SAYA), is delighted to announce the commencement of its residency program for contemporary Chinese artists with an Open Studio event for resident artists Zhang Yue and Wen Hao on Thursday, August 28th from 6-8pm.

A Roundtable Discussion with Zhang Yue and Wen Hao will also be held from 5-6:30pm on August 28th. The discussion will be hosted by guest speaker Adriel Luis, curator at the Asian Pacific American Center at the Smithsonian. We will discuss the two Chinese artists' experiences in New York and, in turn, question today's definition of "American Art." Both artists will also personally introduce their artworks prior to the discussion. Public participation is encouraged.

The gallery's lower level artists' studios are now the locale for residency programs dedicated to some of the most promising, young, Mainland Chinese artists.

Newly inaugurated, Klein Sun Residency strives to act as a bastion of creative freedom and progress in the field of Chinese contemporary art. Several times a year two exceptionally promising artists will be selected to be flown from China to the U.S. and will be provided with housing, material costs, as well as a grant for food, transportation, and museum tours. The artists will engage in studio visits with local and international artists, dialogues with the public, and discussions with pioneering academics including art critics and museum curators. Our studios will allow each artist an ideal platform from which they can explore the internal, external, formal, structural, and abstract ideas they are fated to confront. Open Studio events at the end of each residency present the artworks produced in a public forum that facilitates critical appraisal and inter-cultural exchange.

This exciting new residency program is consistent with Klein Sun Gallery's creative, experimental, and cutting edge approach to the development of Chinese contemporary art across all media. The residency acts as a cross-culture bridge spanning the gap between the two largest economic powers of our contemporary age--China and the United States.

Zhang Yue is an artist dedicated to pushing the boundaries of art as it is understood through traditional viewing arenas like museums, galleries, and public collections. During his residency, he has focused on expanding the definition of art through works that classify as not only experimental, but experiential. Only through creating a beautiful, life-changing moment that affects the entirety of one's existence is Zhang satisfied with the work he produces.

Zhang Yue was born in Jinan, China in 1985. His work has been exhibited in museums and public collections including, "Reformation," White Rabbit Collection, Sydney, Australia (2014); "Rocks, Paper, Scissors - Emerging Artists in Heiqiao, Huantie, and Songzhuang Arts Zones," Songzhuang Museum, Beijing, China (2014); "Next 10 years of Contemporary Art," Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2011); and "Ordinary World-Afternoon," National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China (2010).

Wen Hao is a cutting-edge sculptor whose work focuses on the most basic form of objects and highlights the intricate, stunning, and natural beauty found within the commonplace and mundane aspects of human life. Toying with his already rich experience utilizing paper, Wen Hao has found inspiration in everyday, household American items like paper bags and paper towels. His use of these daily products affords insight into a world of the fantastic that is overlooked as we rush through our lives.

Wen Hao was born in Gansu, China in 1982 and earned his Bachelors in Fine Arts from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited in museums including, "Art Window," Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2014); "Awakening Chinese Intuition," Enjoy Museum of Art, Beijing, China (2014); The Twelfth Exhibition of Experimental Art," Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2014); "Positive Space," Times Museum, Guangdong, China (2014); "The Starts Program: Gradually--2013 Young Artists Exhibition," Today Art Museum and Wuhan Art Museum, Beijing and Wuhan, China (2013); "SEE / SAW: Chinese Contemporary Art Collective Creative Practice," Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2012); and "The First Annual CAFAM Future Development of Phenomena: Chinese Art Ecological Report," Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, Beijing, China (2012).