I tend to paint people in moments of introspection or concentration, when aspects of their character and mood emerge that are normally concealed behind the masks they present in public. My work is also about story telling. I try to tell stories that suggest something of the inner experience that I sense exists deep within their own experience of the world, and reflects their living condition, their mental state, their interests, and other aspects of their disposition of being. My goal is to search out the humanity within these situations.
Bing Zhang is a figurative artist based in San Jose, California. Born in Beijing, China, she moved to the United States in 2001 and received her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2011.
Her work has been exhibited at the De Young Museum, Crocker Art Museum, the Haggin Museum, Triton Museum of Art, Euphrat Museum, the 2025 London Biennale, among other venues. She received a solo exhibition at Triton Museum of Art in 2022. Her work has received Best of Show and other awards at the Stockton Art League National Juried Exhibition at the Haggin Museum, as well as First and Second Place awards in Drawing at the Triton Museum of Art Annual Salon. In 2026, her drawing Portrait of a Young Man was selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters’ RP Drawing Prize in the United Kingdom.