Throughout her career, Muchen Zhang has turned to her bright palette of colours as she strives to make this world a better one by envisioning a life that is pure and less deceitful.
Muchen drew from her love of nature to come up with her newest “Pure” series, allowing her fascination with flowers and their composition to be the focus of her creations. In observing the wonderful intricacy of flowers’ structure, light softness in texture and divine purity of colours, Muchen credits the power of flowers’ pure and refreshing beauty to inspire people to forget their hectic schedules for a moment while they stop and take in their simplistic beauty.
In stark contrast to the joy her works embody in the “Pure” series, Muchen recreates the pain she experienced from personal setbacks in her life through her another series “Broken,” a collection of visual expressions using metaphorical techniques to express her process of rebuilding a new life after breaking free from the overbearing constraints of the former one. In reference to this series, she explained that the reconstruction of her new life was represented by a three-dimensional abstract form to express her new perceptions, reflections and expectations of the world and her own heart, while the expansive flat space underneath the abstract form symbolizes the flattening destruction of her old life, thus becoming the foundation for her to rebuild on.
Earning her Master’s Degree in Chinese Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Muchen Zhang developed her brushwork by adopting the traditional oriental style she had learned and incorporating it with her sketching skills. Her style would experience another change after graduation when she chose watercolours and oil paints as her media of choice, and gave up the eastern traditional forms she had previously embraced; however, her views and understanding of nature along with the incorporation of the many brushes used in Chinese painting would reflect her loyalty to her traditional background and training, noted Fan Di’an, the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and China Artists Association.
Muchen was also heavily influenced from her year of studying abroad in Japan through an exchange program arranged by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. It was there that Muchen became interested in installation art. She became renowned for excelling at various interior and architectural space design patterns, including staging several art and spatial art exhibitions that have captured global attention, including installations in China, Japan, Italy and Vancouver.
After returning from her studies in Japan, Muchen and her husband Yi Chen established a design company and achieved great success. Muchen is now a well-known name in the design industry, with multiple awards to YI + MU Design studio which she founded together with Yi Chen. They’ve won 'Best of The Best' at German Red Dot Awards for two consecutive years. They also carry several other prestigious titles such as being awarded with an Italian A’ Design Award and INSIDE award among others.
Muchen's work continues to grow and evolve. Her work has always been about more than just the physical world. She is interested in exploring different elements that exist around us and their energy, which she captures with her artful eye to create captivating pieces of artwork.