Kelly Zhong was born in Vancouver, BC and currently works in New York, NY. She earned her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from New York University in 2022 and her Bachelor of Fine Arts, summa cum laude from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in 2018. Her work explores the role of relationships and the various forms they manifest within ourselves and others. Working predominantly in drawing and the style of realism, she renders her subjects in a meditative and detailed fashion. Her drawings often express her emotions, thoughts, and relationships.
She views her artwork as informal self-portraits – drawings that reflect parts of herself without ever showing actual facial features. Instead, body language is used to convey mental states and actions. From this ambiguity, she invites viewers to reflect on similar experiences and cast their own perspectives on situations. She has exhibited her artwork in “Telling Stories” (Shoebox LA, 2022), MVA Gallery, 2022, “ArtRich 2019” (The Richmond Art Gallery, 2019), “Discovery” (Seymour Art Gallery, 2018), “39th Annual Paper in Particular” (Sidney Larson Gallery, 2018), among others.
