Next SMU exhibit to feature digital photography, paintings

Painting by Ming Zhou
Digital photography by Jing Zhou

WINONA, Minn. — “Old Media, New Ideas and New Media, Old Ideas” — featuring the work of two Chinese-American artists — will be on display Feb. 16 through March 20 at the Lillian Davis Hogan Galleries of Saint Mary’s University.

Jing Zhou, Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., will display digital photography that reflects her interest in spiritual experiences, and Eastern and Western art, literature and philosophy. “As a Chinese artist living in the western world, I am aware of art and philosophy from both cultures,” she said. To her, creating art is a process of expressing her nature via “being human.”

Ming Zhou, University of Missouri, Columbia, critiques “China’s new middle class’s tasteless manner, which is also a mirror of superficial, boastful and rash society of contemporary China” with her paintings. “Through the slightly ironic paintings, I intend to euphemistically remind the new Chinese bourgeoisie that good taste actually comes from internal cultivation, not just blind mimicry,” she said.

The Lillian Davis Hogan Galleries, located in the Toner Student Center, are free and open to the public and are open daily between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. For more information, call (507) 457-1652.